


A Dream, Deconstructed

by BlueRyder



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Characters will be added as story goes on - Freeform, Some Humor, Writer's quality may vary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2019-11-07 22:36:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17969342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueRyder/pseuds/BlueRyder
Summary: Jack Savage arrives in Zootopia hoping to find something legitimate, something to take his mind off past mistakes he had made, but he quickly learns that such opportunities are not widely present in Zootopia any more, and now he is going to have to face rather unorthodox questions about his life decisions, and most importantly, who he is as a person. However, this self-reflective journey eventually clashes with Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps' own professions as sworn officers of the law, something that he would rather have avoided. Now with a change in the crime underworld that inadvertently swallowed Jack into it, he must make a decision whether to take advantage of the new direction that Zootopia's notorious criminals are heading towards or be pushed to the wayside.





	1. The Setup

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! This story will be kind of an impromptu thing, so it's not a really serious writing thing to me. Anyways it should be fun to write, and feel free to point out any mistakes I make, my brain sometimes falls behind my typing. Hope you enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter will be pretty short, kind of setting up the story itself, but the chapters after this one will be longer, anyways I hope you enjoy it!

Jack watched as the bag of popcorn slowly rotated inside the microwave, even if it took roughly three minutes for the kernels to finish popping, the buck always grew impatient with the process. 

His left foot began to tap rapidly on the kitchen floor as he huffed, "Shit, my tea's going to get cold for fuck's sake. I should've popped these first before starting the bloody kettle." 

The buck was never really a patient mammal, which proved problematic back in his home country where such activities like queuing just for a bag of chips at a stand would quickly irritate Jack, however kicking up a fuss in public was frowned upon and what Jack hated more than waiting was attracting unneeded attention from a group of strangers.

Internally he was weighing the options of continuing to let the popcorn do its thing or to take it out early and risk only getting half a bag of popped kernels. 

"...Fuck it." 

He took the bag out and hissed as the hot oil droplets landed on his paw, quickly he retrieved a plastic bowl off the table and poured whatever came out of the bag. The buck was relieved to find that most of the kernels have indeed formed into delicious pieces of buttered goodness. 

He took his bowl and his cup of still warm tea with him to the living room of his apartment and sat down on his old cloth couch he found in a thrift store while shopping around for any furniture that wasn't made of plastic or was a bean bag. Jack could still remember the embarrassing moment when the delivery mammal, a brown bear, kept asking for a tip and Jack, not the sort to carry paper currency around had to offer him some leftover pizza from last night, which the bear gleefully accepted to his amusement. 

He rubbed his paws together in anticipation and grabbed the remote to his TV, "Alright, let's see what's what." 

As an assistant manager of a marketing firm, a position that the buck received as a fluke of sorts as the previous manager decided on a whim to quit his job to hunt for truffles, Jack had felt the tiredness that came with such a job. It was not his first career choice and was a far cry from his youth days where he aspired to become a 'secret agent' like what he saw in the movies, but at some point in secondary school Jack lost all interest as he became more intrigued with how to down shots of tequila one of his friends sneaked in from his father's liquor cabinet. 

In Zootopia, it was a whole new ball game for Jack, finding friends was much harder as he didn't share the same experiences such as going to school here, or having the same cultural background that came with the territory of making new friends. His accent did make it a little easier to entice others to talk to him, but the novelty would wear off and all that was left was an awkward buck who didn't know how to talk without at some point offending them with his crass attempts at humor. 

But, the buck eventually began finding friends in less conventional spots. 

Jack picked up his vibrating phone from his couch as someone was calling him, a familiar name was shown on the screen, "What's up Sam?"

"Nothing much, just checking up on my striped little friend." 

Jack raised his eyebrow, "Is that right? You need something from me don't you?"

"Of course not! I mean...it's not urgent." Sam quickly denied. 

"Mm-hmm, well I was just going to watch TV, so if you want to say something, now would be a good time." the buck explained to his friend reclining into his couch.

"Uh yeah, Sully and I were just talking and well, you remember when that bar we used to hang out in got busted by the cops and closed down?" 

Jack nodded, "It was all over the news, turned out the owner did some money laundering on the side."

"Yeah, anyways, Sully told me that someone bought the property and they are going to tear the place down." 

The buck sighed, "Is that right? What a shame, it was a pretty cozy place for us to have a sip and talk." 

"I know, it sucks, so Sully and I decided to bring some beers later tonight and sit down inside before they destroy the building." 

Jack rubbed his chin, "Wouldn't there be security?" 

"We checked earlier, and it doesn't seem anyone is patrolling the place. It's kind of weird, but we figured that as long as we are quiet we shouldn't get caught." 

He glanced outside his window and already felt a little apprehensive at the idea since it was quite late in the evening, a time in which Jack preferred to be indoors and relax.

"Well here's my opinion, it sounds like a stupid idea and you two will be arrested for trespassing." 

Sam released a short chuckle, "Arrested? I don't think so, they'll probably just tell us to get out." 

Jack was bemused by her rationale, "And what, you want me to tag along?" 

"I mean, you are my friend, and I thought it would be cool to hang out over there just one last time before it's all gone." 

Jack looked down towards his food and beverage, "Why don't you two just come over here? I have my video games laying around, and assuming you don't get too loud we won't have the cops on our tails." 

"Look Jack, I know you really don't like rubbing shoulders with the police considering what happened before but it'll be okay, they won't even see us inside the building since it's boarded up." 

His ears flickered in doubt, "And I'm supposed to take your word? Forgive me for sounding skeptical but this doesn't sound like a safe bet."

"Come on, live a little, you told me about your job before and it honestly sounds like you hate it."

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, "I don't hate it, it's just...okay, fine, but as soon as anyone else besides us three enters the area I'm out of there." 

Sam laughed again, "Spoken like a true rabbit, cool we'll meet up across the street then, see ya." 

"See you there." Jack said before hanging up and setting the phone down on his couch.

He took a sip of his tea, "Right, this shouldn't go wrong at all."


	2. Lovely Evening for a Walk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the ball gets rolling...

Jack had to admit, it was quite a nice evening to have a reunion of sorts with his friends, even if it was going to involve some drinking at a formerly dubious bar located in an already downtrodden neighborhood. 

"Well, this is the spot apparently." the buck muttered to himself looking around for any sign of his friends. 

The bar itself, formerly called Arthur's Tavern, was located close to the docks of Zootopia; an area where years of economic decline had led the buildings around to close and many of its inhabitants to leave having lost their jobs. Now all that was left was the junkies, homeless, and prospective developers looking to 'revitalize' the area.

He sighed and checked his phone for any texts that he may have missed, but nothing of the sort appeared on the screen. 

"Where the hell are these two?" 

After checking his surroundings once again for any sign of unwanted attention, he ran across the street and peeked into one of the windows pointing towards the street. 

He didn't see any sign of his friends and quickly he became irritated, "Are they having a laugh?"

He began typing on his phone, "Where are you two? I'm waiting by the bar." 

Surprisingly Sam quickly replied, "So sorry! We are on our way, just like another minute or two." 

Jack felt already like he was in danger of being caught by the authorities, but the walk from his apartment to the bar took too long for him to cut his losses and head back. Especially with free beer on the line. 

He cracked his knuckles, "Well since I'm here anyways might as well get a head start." 

The buck found a piece of wood lying on the floor and used it as a crowbar to pry the remaining boards on the window, with a quick pry the boards came off rather easily even for a rabbit like himself. 

"I suppose I should fit nicely in here." he said judging the gap resulting from two of the boards being removed.

"Sam should be fine, Sully...we'll figure it out." 

Jack jumped up and hoisted himself through the gap, and after peeking around to make sure there were no cameras or traps to set off an alarm he climbed down and landed on the rough wooden floor. To his surprise the establishment hasn't been completely gutted out yet, all the pictures and drinks were removed, but the tables and chairs were still there, even the old jukebox.

"There's the spot we used to drink at, bit dusty but it should be fine." he judged as he wiped down the seating and table that were covered with a fine layer of dust. 

He sat on the leather chair and his mind began to wander to previous memories of him and his friends enjoying their nights downing beers and drunkenly venting to each other about their lives. Jack even remembered when he attempted to flirt with one of the female staff only to be rejected and made fun of by Sam for the rest of the night to his chagrin. 

His phone vibrated indicating that he received another text, "We're here, where are you?"

"Inside already, get in through the right front window." he texted back.

Shortly after he heard a loud grunt, "Jack?"

The buck waved at the gopher, "Over here, can you make it through?"

She nodded, "Yeah I just...whoa! Ow!"

The gopher slipped midway through her vaunt, "Oh shit, you okay Sam?"

Jack lifted the gopher off the ground, "Yeah, just bruised my knee a little."

"Where's Sully?" 

"Out here!" a gruff voice spoke out from outside.

"Not so loud! Can you fit through?" Jack spoke through the gap.

"I can just fit my head." 

The deer's head poked through the gap, "Um...little help?"

Sam and Jack went to grab his antlers, "No! Not that!" 

Jack crossed his arms, "Okay, what do you propose then?"

Sully wiggled around, "Give me a sec."

The gopher and rabbit looked at each other with a shrug and watched as the deer struggled to force himself through the gap.

"Are you actually going to make it or shall we call the police to help?" Jack half-jokingly questioned the struggling cervine.

Sully frowned at the buck, "Are you crazy? Last thing I want to happen is me being stuck this way while they cuff me! I can fit through here, just..."

"This is stupid, just break one of the boards so you have more space, I'm assuming it's just your body and not also your head's that thick." Jack responded in a deadpan manner.

"Jack's right, let's just do that." Sam agreed while she grabbed one edge of the board below Sully.

"I'm not thick! I just been collecting weight for the winter!" Sully retorted.

The buck grunted as he pulled on the wood board that was firmly nailed to the wall, "It's April, stop making excuses."

"Whatever, Jack on the count of three pull hard!" Sam instructed the rabbit.

He nodded, "Right, at your mark."

The gopher tensed herself up, "Hold on Sully, one...two...three!"

After a brief moment of intense pulling, the board was suddenly released from the wall's grip and all three tumbled to the floor.

Jack groaned as he rubbed his back, "Well, takes care of that I suppose."

Sully lifted himself up from the ground, "Sorry about that."

"If you bothered to diet and exercise this wouldn't be a problem." Sam reprimanded her friend.

Sully huffed, "I will!"

"When?" Sam shot back waiting for an answer.

The deer looked away from her abashed, "You know, when I'm not busy with work..."

Jack snickered, "Mate, I've been working overtime the past few weeks and I haven't been accumulating any more weight than usual." 

Sully crossed his arms, "It's because I'm getting old." 

"Old? We're both 25 for fox's sake, we're barely adults!" Sam replied frankly confused by her friend's rationale. 

"Forget it, I have the beer...on the other side of the window." Sully meekly told the two as the realization hit him.

After being made to retrieve the beverages by the distraught two, all three sat down at the table they used to group up at and just like old times the trio began to talk about their lives. 

"How's your boyfriend doing Sam?" Sully said as he popped open one of the bottles and provided it to her. 

"He's not my boyfriend." Sam flatly denied before taking a swig of the drink.

Jack was interested in the matter, "Wait, who?" 

"Cooper, you know, that beaver dude trying to bone Sam at work." the deer explained. 

Jack smirked at Sam, "Is that so?"

"I'll kick him in the balls if he tries anything." Sam growled.

"Whoa there, at least get someone to film it before you do." Jack said taking his own sip of the beer. 

Sam smacked her lips, "Hmm...Sully, where did you get this beer?" 

"At the co-op next door, why?" 

The gopher stared inside the bottle, "Mine tastes...off." 

Jack shrugged, "Tastes fine to me." 

Sam took another sip, "No, mine tastes like there's metal in it." 

The buck reached for her bottle, "Let me see..." 

After receiving it from her he sampled it, "Hmm...nope, tastes the same." 

"Let me see yours Sully." Sam told the deer. 

He gave her an apprehensive look, "I don't like other people drinking from the same cup or bottle as mine." 

She snatched the bottle from his grasp, "Don't be a baby, my mouth's fine." 

"Sure, assuming Cooper hasn't also been in your mouth." Jack joked which earned him a punch to the arm.

"Enough about Cooper, nothing's ever happened and nothing's going to happen between us, got it?" she told the buck before taking a drink from Sully's bottle.

She grimaced and returned the bottle to the deer, "This one also tastes metallic." 

"Maybe it's a species thing, you know since you're a gopher." Jack suggested.

"It might be, this sucks, I can't drink this because it tastes awful." Sam woefully groaned. 

Sully smiled, "Maybe we should take a look around the place. I mean, it's not like they're going to take anything for themselves when they raze the place." 

"Worth a try, if we're drunk and Sam's not that doesn't sound like it's going to be a fun night." Jack said leaping off the chair.

As the bar wasn't particularly large and the three was familiar with the layout, it was easy to guess where the booze may have been hidden from plain sight to deter thieves from plundering the place before it was demolished. Jack quickly found a few bottles sitting underneath the counter where the bartender served drinks to customers. 

"Huh, guess they must've missed these. Sam, how about these ones?" Jack called out to her.

The gopher rushed over to him, "Whatcha got?" 

Jack read through the labels, "Let's see here...La Paloma Tequila, Cork's Whiskey, Going Solo craft beer..." 

Sam pointed at the whiskey, "That one, need to drown out my sorrows of today." 

"Cork's Whiskey it is, find me some shot glasses would you?" Jack said taking the bottle to their table. 

"Bring all of them!" Sully yelled out to the buck.

Jack laughed, "I figured you would say that." 

With the various bottles of booze and the shot glasses now at the table the real fun began.

"Cheers, to our not quite shitty lives." Jack toasted to the other two.

"Cheers." they replied before all three downed the whiskey.

"Okay, last time you got laid, go." Sully announced the next topic. 

Jack and Sam both winced, "Oh, uh..." 

Sully grinned, "Come on, you both have game right? Couldn't have been that long." 

"How about you then? Care to share your so called 'game'?" Jack questioned him.

The deer continued to grin, "Well if you must know, I had some fun last night with one of the librarians at the Central Station library." 

"What? How did you manage that?" Sam asked confounded by her friend's luck.

"It's always the quiet ones, I saw her checking me out and right there I knew she wanted some." Sully recounted his encounter.

Jack stared at his bottle with a tinge of jealousy, "That easy huh..."

Sully laughed, "Best part is that we did it in the employee's bathroom, it was lockable so we had plenty of privacy." 

Sam was unsure that Sully was able to get away with having sex at a library, "Wait, so nobody like knocked or anything?" 

"Nope. Must've just got lucky, because it was at least ten minutes or so." 

Jack tapped his paw on the table, "How do we know that this even happened?"

Sully pulled out his phone and showed Jack and Sam visual proof, "I took a picture of us, just in case I got that question." 

Sam scrutinized the image of Sully and a female deer and deducted it was real, "Classy. Also good on you for doing her standing up and not on the dirty bathroom floor." 

Jack cursed internally his lack of 'activity', "Great, now I feel worse." 

"Come on Jack, don't be like that, Sully's just trying to show off." Sam consoled the rabbit.

Even if outside Jack was smiling pretending to accept Sam's consolation, inside he felt sub-par and wondered if he was even attractive. Despite having previous sexual encounters, Jack never felt as though he considered anything beyond 'cute' or 'boyish' and that those descriptions weren't enough to seriously attract female attention. 

"Sam...am I unattractive?" Jack said looking down at the table.

"No! Of course not, what makes you think that?" the gopher answered surprised at the buck's question.

Jack thought on it for a second, "I just...it's hard for does to take me seriously. At least half of them I talked to asked me if I'm in college or even high school still." 

Sully waved his paw dismissively, "Eh, some girls just have different tastes, just find one that likes you for who you are and bingo, you'll have her in bed before you know it."

Jack was doubtful at Sully's advice, "It's been...two months." 

Sam quickly understood what he meant, "Two months isn't bad, I mean at least you got some tail right?" 

"All she did was blow me, and midway I had to leave through the bedroom window because her boyfriend came home." Jack said tossing the empty bottle aside to the floor.

Sully cringed at Jack's incident, "Ouch, her boyfriend probably tasted something funny later huh?" 

"Besides that, not much luck, but I've gone so long without any sex that it's well...a bit odd to say really but I'm starting to lose my drive if that makes sense?" Jack attempted to articulate his feelings. 

"I totally know where you're coming from, at one point I went without sex for three months because of my surgery and it was so weird, like other males didn't really attract me anymore. Until those sailors came into town..." Sam droned off. 

Sully and Jack looked at Sam funny for a moment before Jack continued, "Anyways, I've been busy with work so any free time I have I spend it sleeping or watching TV, I just don't feel like mingling with potential mates you know?" 

Sully in sympathy handed the entire bottle of craft beer to Jack, "Buddy...you need a vacation." 

Jack buried his head in his arms, "Ugh I can't, my boss has been hounding me to finish these designs for the project and I need to get them done for this big marketing event for the football championship." 

"Damn, hey at least they consider you important enough to give you those projects right?" Sam said rubbing Jack's shoulder.

Jack shrugged, "I don't even know anymore, some days I wish I could just quit and head back to Britain." 

"This is like your what, eighth year here in Zootopia?" Sully asked the buck.

Jack popped the cap off the craft beer and downed several gulps, "Something like that, lost track after the third year." 

Jack left Britain for Zootopia with all the money he saved up working odd jobs, both on the books and other various degrees of legality, and entered a community college shortly after arriving in his new city and country. After a brief bout of homesickness for his parents and siblings, he quickly got over it after entering school and acquiring a job that paid enough for him to live an independent life of any sort. 

"Do your parents ever miss you?" Sam asked next.

The rabbit nodded, "All the time, but they understand that I'm doing well for myself over here so they tell me to be safe and make sure to visit them once in a while." 

Sam released a deep breath, "My parents wouldn't care honestly, as long as I don't get caught stealing or murdering people then it's all good." 

"I don't think my mom would let me move to another country honestly." Sully told the two.

The gopher raised an eyebrow, "You do realize that you're legally an adult right?" 

"I know, but she's the only family I have now after Dad died a couple of years ago." Sully solemnly explained. 

Jack finished his bottle and began feeling the effects, "Yeah, if any of my family died then I would be on the next plane back to Blighty." 

After several drinks the trio sank deeper into their drunken stupor, "Do you think that the jukebox still works?" Sam questioned with her speech slurred. 

The rabbit squinted at it, "Fuck knows, thing's been there longer than segregation." 

Sully snickered, "Ooh, don't say those kind of things Jackie, you'll hurt the predators' feelings." 

"Like I give a shit, even now Zootopia's still full of idiots trying to make things harder for everyone with those laws." 

Sam walked to the jukebox slightly awkwardly from the booze, "I'm gonna try it out." 

Jack looked back towards her, "I'm pretty sure those things need electricity to work Sam." 

She dismissively waved him off and began pressing at random buttons, "Come on, work you piece of shit..." 

Jack checked his phone, "Damn, it's already 10, I need to get home." 

"Can't you stick around for a little while longer?" Sully asked feeling disappointed that the rabbit had to go already.

"I can't, I have to work tomorrow, bad enough it's likely I'm going to have a hangover in the morning." 

Jack picked up a noise from outside, "Wait...you hear that?"

"What?" Sam asked the buck running back to him.

"What if it's a prank call, all this for nothing?" a male voice asked where Jack suspected was at the street.

"Better to respond to it than to sit back and let somebody break the law." a female voice replied.

"Fuck, it's the rozzers!" Jack whispered. 

Sully tilted his head in confusion, "The what?"

"Get down, someone must've called the police on us." Jack told the other two.

The three hid underneath the table, "Do you think that they know about us?" Sam asked.

Jack shook his head, "If they did they would've breached open the door." 

"I'm just saying fluff, some kid is probably laughing at making us walk into this...crap." the male officer complained.

"We'll just check and if there's no one here we can leave." the female officer replied. 

Jack frowned, "If I get arrested, I'll stab you both for bringing me here." 

Sully gulped knowing how vicious the rabbit could get when angered, "Noted." 

"Huh, look at this, boards been taken off." the female officer said pointing her flashlight at it. 

"Yup, means someone has been riding the booze train." he replied.

"Booze train?" she asked incredulously. 

He chuckled, "Yes Carrots, the booze train." 

Sam hiccuped and quickly covered her mouth in fear of being caught.

"You heard that?" the female officer said.

Jack clenched his fists, "Fuck..."

He lifted the hoodie over his head and tightened it to hide his face, "Listen, I'm going to distract these two and when they are gone, you guys get out of here." 

"Are you crazy? They'll catch you and send you straight to jail!" Sully warned the buck.

With the hoodie strings pulled all the way out only Jack's eyes were visible, "If I go to jail that's that, but you two are innocent with no records, I don't want your lives to be ruined." 

Sam was taken aback by his bravery, "Jack..." 

"Shh...I'm going to go, if I manage to escape, I'll call you guys." Jack told them.

He crawled out from underneath the table and gave them a quick nod before walking away from them, leaving his friends to only sit there and hope that Jack would not get caught.

The rabbit took a deep breath, "Okay, there's a back door somewhere..."

He went to the back of the bar and sure enough the back door was there, only locked. 

"Interesting, never seen a double sided lock before...should work the same." he said to himself grabbing a pin from a desk nearby. 

"I can't believe I'm doing this. Jack, you crazy bastard." He told himself starting to pick the lock.

His skills were rusty from years of lack of use, but he knew the basics of lockpicking from watching Zootube videos as a teen which came in handing for raiding the grocery stores after closing for various snacks and alcohol. 

Jack stared off to the ceiling trying to mentally picture the lock as he used the pin, "Come on...fuck...wait...and...presto!" 

He gave himself a smug congratulations before opening the door where he heard the officers discussing what to do. It wasn't the first time where Jack has had to run from the police under the effects of alcohol, however Zootopia's police force was notorious for training their officers to top physical condition, and Jack himself hasn't properly exercised to keep in shape in years.

After bracing himself for the inevitable chase he slowly walked down the alleyway, "Hey!" 

The two officers, a male fox and female rabbit instantly turned their attention to him, "What are you doing there?"

Jack wiggled a bottle around, "Just a little drinking tonight officers!" he said in his fake Zootopian accent. 

The doe officer stepped forward, "Sir, put the drink down." 

He shrugged, "Sure." 

Jack threw the bottle onto the ground which resulted it smashing into a thousand pieces of sharp glass, "Suck my dick, pigs!" he taunted grabbing his crotch before sprinting off.

The fox sighed in exasperation, "The nerve of some people..." 

His partner instantly ran off to apprehend the perp, "At least give me a second to get ready, gees..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the story isn't too cliche...right?


	3. How to Explain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Depiction of some police brutality, nothing major but still something to note.

Despite all that was happening at the moment, it was the first time in years that Jack truly felt alive. Even if the officer doe was only about half a block behind.

"Where to go...where to go...come on Jack, you always find somewhere to hide." 

"Stop now or else I'll be forced to use my tranquilizer gun!" the doe yelled out to him.

Jack couldn't help but be amused by her warning, "You really going to try to dart me? Better wrap this up soon then." 

The buck knew he couldn't outrun her forever, so all he could do was try to elude her another way. 

He quickly turned right down the street and ran towards a housing project where he hoped that he could seek refuge within as police officers were not seen highly over there. The doe maintained the distance between them, leaving Jack little time to plan how to vanish from her sight.

His eyes quickly darted around looking for any entrance, "There's gotta be a spot to hide in these buildings..." 

Right at the corner of his peripheral vision he spotted someone opening the door from inside, "Guess that's my ticket." 

The buck dashed for the door, and with only seconds to spare he ran past the person who opened it and headed right into the building.

"Hey! You can't go in there!" 

He forced the door closed, "Sorry mate! Having a bit of trouble here!" 

Jack hoped that the door was only able to open from the inside, and to his relief it held true as he heard the doe banging on it, "Open this door immediately!" 

The buck held up a L on his forehead, "Jack one, pigs zero." 

He knew though that she would find another way inside and he would need to escape at some point before she called in reinforcements. 

Jack panting from the exhaustion began walking through the complex trying to find a discrete exit, "I hope Sam and Sully were able to get out of there without that fox finding them."

His anxiety was not going to subside until he knew for sure that his friends were able to return home without any police knocking on their doors. Despite it being their idea to come to the bar in the first place, Jack still felt worried about their safety.

As it was fairly late at night by now the interior of the projects were empty as everyone who lived inside had already either gone to sleep or were about to. It however made it easier for him to be spotted as there was no hiding in a crowd or other distractions to draw the officer's attention away from him. All he could hope for was that she decides to give up, but something told him that wasn't going to be the case.

He pondered how to return home, it wasn't as though he could hail a cab back home since it would take too long for it to arrive and make a timely getaway from the pursuing ZPD officer. He had no friends either in the area to hide out in for the night and lose the heat, so all he could do was try to wait it out.

"Looks like you're running from something."

Jack turned to find a male ferret standing right outside an open door, "Yeah, got myself in a bit of a sticky situation."

The ferret gestured his head to the door, "Wanna hide in here for a bit?"

The buck was unsure whether to trust the stranger, "You aren't going to try anything funny right?"

"Look, you want in or what?" the ferret said already annoyed.

Jack decided to risk it rather than getting arrested and walked inside the room politely nodding towards the ferret as he walked past him.

The ferret headed inside as well and shut the door, "Sorry if it's a bit messy."

The rabbit shook his head, "I don't mind at all, my place isn't exactly tidied up either."

"You want a drink?" the ferret offered.

Jack smiled, "I do, thanks."

The buck took a look at his surroundings, the apartment itself was relatively spartan but had the basics, including the couch, various pieces of art and decoration, and plenty of books strewn around the place. 

Shortly after the ferret returned from the kitchen with a cup of water, "It might taste kinda off, building's falling apart as it is."

The rabbit took a sip and didn't mind considering how thirsty he was now, "It'll do."

"Name's Raymond by the way, but you can call me Ray." the ferret introduced offering his paw.

Jack gave it a firm shake, "Jack."

The ferret leaned on the counter, "So Jack, what brings you here to Francisco Gardens?"

"Had a bit of an...encounter with the police." Jack said still feeling on edge.

Ray nodded, "Happens quite a bit here, not even the first time I helped someone evade pursuit."

Jack set the glass down on the table, "Really? So you just let random people on the run in here?"

"Yeah, I mean, most of the time the cops are just being assholes and picking on the little guys here who can't fight back." Ray explained.

Jack agreed with the ferret's sentiment, "Believe me, I know."

Ray smiled seeing the rabbit sharing his opinion on Zootopia's finest, "So, what sort of things did you do to make the po-po chase after you?"

The buck sighed, "My friends and I were sharing some drinks at the abandoned bar down the street and I think someone must've seen us because soon after two officers showed up to ruin our fun."

Ray tsked, "So trespassing then?"

"Well that and breaking and entering."

The ferret laughed, "That's it? Fuck the ZPD really have got too much time on their paws. I swear the past few years they've been really cracking down on crime."

"Seems like it, in hindsight it was pretty dumb to have broken into an abandoned building and expecting things not to go wrong."

Jack felt that despite the ferret allowing him to evade the police, he seemed like a pretty upstanding person, just someone who had a poor opinion of the ZPD.

"So um, if you don't mind me asking, why exactly did you let me into your house?" Jack asked trying to know more about the ferret.

Ray appeared to think on it for a moment, "Well...if you really want to know, the police come in here because they want this neighborhood to appear 'presentable' to any rich mammal who wants to raze down these old buildings and replace them with I don't fucking know...prissy cafes and yoga studios."

"Really?" Jack said in surprise.

"That's their job, to make sure that property is protected and criminals are kept off the street, at least in theory."

As far as Jack's knowledge went, he knew that the police were supposed to 'keep the peace' and patrol the streets to deter crime, but it never occurred to him that the police do also tend to shoo anyone away who didn't fit the image that Zootopia was expected to portray not only to its citizens but also to outsiders.

The buck found himself agreeing with Ray's explanation, "Never thought about it that way, but now that you mention it..." 

Ray rested his paw on the rabbit's shoulder, "Jack, there are many things to learn about how the police function. They serve the city, not the people." 

Jack was confused by his wording, "Aren't they the same thing?" 

"I meant they serve more the government and elites, not really the rest of us." Ray clarified. 

"I'm inclined to believe that because of that bribery scandal the ZPD had a few months ago." Jack referenced when it was revealed that an officer's accounts were padded with contractor money from a construction firm to kick out people for a condo to be built. 

"Anyways, you can crash here for the night if you want." Ray offered. 

Jack waved his paw, "It's nice of you, but I have to go to work tomorrow morning and I prefer to be on my bed when I wake up." 

"Really? You seem a little drunk to be wandering the streets at night." Ray said with concern. 

The rabbit thought on it and saw the risk, "I guess you're right, being drunk in public probably would attract more attention from the police." 

"You can sleep on the couch tonight, by tomorrow I'm sure whoever's chasing you will have given up and went home." Ray told the buck. 

"Thank you, is there anyway I could make it up to you?" Jack offered his own compensation for the ferret's generosity.

Ray chuckled, "Course not, would be rude to make you cough up any money after seeing you cough up a lung, figuratively speaking."

Jack gratefully shook the ferret's paw, "Thank you so much, um...if you don't mind I have to make a call actually." 

"No problem, I'll be in my room." Ray told him heading inside the bedroom.

Jack went straight to dialing Sam's number and began anxiously waiting, "Come on...pick up..." 

"Jack?" 

The rabbit sighed in relief, "Sam, I'm so glad to here you're safe." 

"It's great hearing from you too." 

Jack sat down on the couch, "Where are you guys?" 

"We waited until the cops left and then we booked it straight to Sully's mom's house." Sam explained.

He was surprised by her choice of location, "Wait, his mum's?" 

"It's safer here than either of our places since it was much closer, don't worry I told Sully's mom that we drank too much and we needed to find a place to stay." 

Jack felt most of his worry disappear, "Good, and Sam..." 

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever rope me into your stupid antics again, at least the ones that involve breaking the law." he warned strongly. 

"Totally, we learned our lesson." Sam confirmed to her friend. 

Jack scratched his head, "You better." 

"So where are you? Did you already make it back home?" 

"No, I took a little detour to escape that rabbit officer who chased me." he told Sam.

"Rabbit officer? Wait...isn't she Judy Hopps?" 

He raised an eyebrow in puzzlement, "Judy who?" 

She huffed, "You know, that officer who solved the Nighthowler case?" 

Jack shrugged, "No clue, I don't watch news about the police and what they do to be honest." 

"She's the only rabbit officer in the entire department right now. I'm so shocked you never heard of her." Sam said confounded by Jack's lack of knowledge. 

The buck became a little irritated by the gopher's disbelief, "What, just because she's another rabbit means that I know about her?" 

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean, she's pretty popular in the city, especially among rabbits so I thought you would at least have heard about her." 

Jack scoffed, "Right, then I know to avoid her then." 

"Whatever works for you, but anyways you should keep a low profile for now." Sam informed him.

"I know that, and same for you and Sully. I don't want to hear that you two were arrested in connection to the bar." Jack sharply cautioned her.

"I'll make sure we don't get caught, I'll talk to you later alright?" 

"Stay safe." he said before hanging up.

Ray returned with a blanket, "Here, should keep you warm." 

The blanket itself was clearly old and somewhat ragged but Jack figured he rather have some kind of warmth rather than sleeping without. 

Jack grabbed it, "Appreciate it." 

"So you said you have work tomorrow?" Ray said sitting down next to him.

The buck nodded, "Yep, normally I get there by 9 in the morning, so if I wake up early enough I can head straight home, shower and get ready for work."

"Who you work for?" 

"Just a kind of PR firm, you know, marketing and such." Jack briefly explained. 

Ray smiled, "You any good at it?" 

Jack gave him an unsure expression, "I would hope so, but sometimes I feel that this job is not right for me. I do it for the money really. Um, how about you?" 

The ferret smirked, "You can say I also work as PR, but not the kind you're thinking of." 

His answer piqued Jack's interest, "Is that right? What exactly do you do?" 

"Let's just say I like to spread awareness about our activism." Ray described to the rabbit. 

Jack tried to guess what exactly Ray meant, "Activism? Oh, like fighting for equal rights?" 

Ray waved his paw, "Kind of, it's hard to explain." 

"I mean, it's not like I'm going anywhere for a while." Jack pointed out his situation.

Ray chuckled, "Yeah, I guess not. Tell you what, if you ever want to know more about my um...job, just let me know, I'll give you my number." 

Jack's interest grew as it seemed the ferret was willing to divulge more information about his work, "Sounds good." 

After exchanging numbers on their phone Ray looked at the time, "Welp, definitely past my bedtime, I'm going to hit the sack." 

The rabbit yawned as though his body agreed, "Same here, all that running earlier really gave me a workout." 

Ray groaned as he stood up, "It's gonna be a long day for me tomorrow..." 

There was an abrupt knock on the door that frightened both of them, "Shit, guess your friend came to visit also." 

"She'll see me in here!" Jack whispered feeling his anxiety erupt again.

"Hide in my closet, I'll take care of this." Ray instructed the buck.

Jack immediately followed the ferret's directions and ran inside Ray's bedroom, hiding himself in the closet as told. 

The buck peeked through the crack in the closet door as Ray opened it. 

"Evening officers." Ray politely greeted the fox and doe officers from before.

"Evening sir, we've been um...pursuing a suspect into the breaking and entering of property and my partner here has told me that the suspect has fled into this building." the fox officer told the ferret. 

The ferret feigned shock, "What? That's crazy! Do you know what he looks like?"

The doe shrugged, "Only thing I got was him having blue eyes and judging by his shape it's a safe bet that he's a rabbit." 

Jack was relieved to hear that she didn't catch his recognizable stripes on his face, and as the rabbit population in Zootopia was large in number there was little chance that she would be able to connect just his eye color to himself. 

"We've been knocking door to door asking residents if they've seen this suspect. Have you seen any sign of him being here?" The doe Jack now knew as Judy Hopps questioned. 

Ray shook his head, "I haven't seen anything, but I'll give the ZPD a call if something pops up." 

The fox stood there for a moment and smirked, "I think you're hiding something." 

"I'm not hiding anything Officer...Wilde, I promise you I haven't seen the guy you're after." Ray said with no fear or denial in his tone. 

Officer Wilde continued to smile as though he knew something was up, "Then you wouldn't mind if we scoped the place out?" 

The ferret frowned, "Don't you need a warrant to enter?" 

"We believe that the suspect is still in the building, and we searched inside each available room under suspicion that the suspect is seeking refuge in one of them." Officer Hopps justified their actions. 

Ray stood firm, "I have my rights not to allow you in without a search warrant." 

Officer Wilde grew irritated, "Listen sir, we are not going to ask you again, please allow us to search your home." 

Jack could see both officers holding a multitude of suppression equipment including mace, tasers, and what he hoped were normal dart guns. The buck knew that Ray was risking arrest and even injury resisting the officers. 

"You can't make me, and that's final." Ray stated. 

The fox sighed, "You really are going to make me do this huh?" 

"What do you mean-" 

Officer Wilde knocked the ferret to the ground and held him there, "Carrots, if you mind?" 

She gave a short apologetic face to the now furious ferret, "We're sorry we have to use force, but we have a suspect on the loose." 

"This is police brutality, my lawyer's going to hear about this!" Ray yelled out. 

"Trust me, this is not remotely the worst we could do to you." The fox warned him. 

Jack was also angered by the police officer's actions, "You utter scum..." 

He watched as Officer Hopps searched around the apartment, "I don't see anything here." 

"Check the bathroom." the fox suggested keeping the struggling ferret down. 

She nodded and walked inside, "Nothing here." 

"Bedroom?" 

Jack gulped as he heard her footsteps on the carpet and his heart began to race as she searched around the room, "Nothing under the bed..." 

The doe walked towards the closet, "Alright if you're in here, come out with your paws up." 

Jack sunk deeply in the corner of the closet burying himself in clothing that was left piled on the floor as she opened the door and searched around, after several petrifying seconds the doe sighed, "Nothing here." 

After she left the room Jack in relief removed some of the clothing off him to regain sight of the others, "Nothing?" Officer Wilde asked his partner.

She shook her head, "He's not here."

The fox's disappointed face reverted back into a smug smirk, "Lucky you, harboring a fugitive would've been quite the crime to commit." 

Ray was released from the fox's grip, "I told you." 

"We appreciate your cooperation with us tonight." Officer Hopps thanked professionally. 

"Cooperation? You forced yourself inside my house without my consent!" Ray shouted outraged that the doe would even thank him in such a way. 

"Hey, don't push your luck, you're lucky you aren't being arrested for obstructing an investigation." Officer Wilde warned the ferret.

Ray dusted off his shirt, "Lucky huh?" 

Officer Wilde donned his sunglasses, "Look, personally I don't really agree with how the ZPD trained us to handle these situations, but that's how it works and we need civilians to follow along, got it?" 

"I'll keep that in mind." Ray growled.

Officer Hopps smiled as though nothing serious happened, "Have a good night sir." 

Ray stood there in disbelief over her jovial farewell, "Good night." 

After the two officers walked off Ray shut the door forcefully, "You can come out now Jack." 

The buck exited the closet and ran to him, "Fucking hell Ray, are you alright?" 

Ray huffed, "Yeah, I'm fine." 

Jack felt guilty about what Ray went through just to protect him, "Is there anything I can do?"

The ferret shook his head and walked back to his bedroom, "It's fine Jack, I'm going to sleep, good night."

The buck stood there still taking in what he just witnessed, seeing someone as generous and friendly as Ray being assaulted by the police no less infuriated him.

Jack shut off the living room light and laid on the couch, leaving him to simmer in anger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...this isn't exactly going to be a love fest between Jack and the police.


	4. Hungry Jack's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cheesy title, couldn't help myself lol

The next morning Jack woke up much earlier than usual, a brief episode of panic overcame him before he realized why he was at a stranger's house as the previous day's events slowly trickled in. After his brain confirmed his location, the inevitable hangover began pounding. 

"Ack, my bloody head..." 

Jack held his paw to his ear as it slightly burned from the pressure of the headache, "Ray?" 

The lack of an answer from the bedroom made Jack assume that the ferret was still asleep, "Hmm...hope he doesn't mind if I use the bathroom." 

As the sunlight shined through the blinds it was already bright enough to further Jack's headache, without turning on the light in the bathroom he stood over the toilet and unzipped his pants to do his business. 

While he relieved himself his brain began to think back some more on the two officers that forced themselves in Ray's apartment without permission. Jack has heard before about the police forcing themselves in to people's houses to stop a crime in progress but as it wasn't known to them that Ray was giving Jack refuge, the officers shouldn't have caused any harm to the ferret. 

"I'm not a criminal...I'm not a criminal..." he muttered trying to convince himself that he didn't do anything wrong, he just was caught at the wrong time doing something benign with his friends. 

After flushing he went to the sink to wash his paws, looking at himself in the mirror he could see that his eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Jack knew it was going to be difficult convincing his boss that he wasn't up drinking last night. 

He exited the bathroom and checked his phone for the time, "Hmm...I should be able to make it home in time to eat something and shower." 

He didn't want to leave before thanking Ray for his hospitality and also protecting him from arrest, but the buck was still unsure if the ferret was sleeping. 

Jack stood outside the bedroom door, debating with himself whether to knock on the door. After a minute, he hesitantly knocked just lightly enough to avoid excessive noise. 

"Ray? Are you up?" 

He heard some blankets ruffling about and a groan, "I just um...wanted to thanks again for what you did." 

Jack could hear Ray stretching and yawning indicating that he just woke up, "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" 

The ferret opened the door with a tired smile on his face, "Nah, it's all good." 

The buck didn't see any obvious signs of bruising or trauma, "Do you feel anything?" 

Ray sniffed, "Gonna take a lot more than what that fox did to break me." 

"We should tell the ZPD about this, this is obviously illegal what they did!" Jack said still angry from last night's incident.

The ferret sarcastically smiled before frowning, "How long have you lived here Jack?"

Jack had to think about it, "About eight years now I suppose." 

"Then you should be familiar with how the ZPD works here right?" Ray said crossing his arms. 

The buck looked down dejectedly, "I thought I knew but...I never realized how bad it actually was." 

Ray walked past Jack into the kitchen, "They're bad apples Jack, all of them. Doesn't matter who they are or what they do, they all protect their own kind even if it means hurting civilians in the process." 

Jack still wasn't completely sure about that generalization, "Maybe if we report those two to the department they might do something, they must be held accountable for their actions, right?" 

Ray chuckled darkly, "There is something called a police union, they will fight the courts to the death to protect any of their officers. That one cop who took the bribes? Still there."

Even with Jack's troubled history with the police, at least in Zootopia he was sure that as long as he remained legitimate with his life there was no reason to worry or fear the police, but as last night proved innocence was not a given.

"Okay then, what do you propose to solve this?" Jack questioned the ferret.

Ray pulled out a container of orange juice, "Just bring these injustices to the public eye, one way or another." 

"I see, about this job of yours, what exactly do you do?" Jack once again asked hoping to gain some insight into Ray. 

"It's...not exactly legal." Ray admitted as he poured the juice into a cup.

Jack tilted his head in confusion, "What do you mean not exactly legal?" 

"I don't want to involve you in this, you're just a buck living a clean life and I don't want to ruin that." Ray told the buck.

"Please, I was involved in some dubious activities back home. Record's thick as a book I reckon at this point." Jack divulged his troubled youth. 

"Like what?" 

"Underage drinking, larceny, vandalism, even piracy." Jack listed off.

Ray smiled hearing Jack's previous experience, "The works then." 

"You can call it that yes, I was basically forced out of Britain by the time I finished secondary school." Jack told the ferret feeling slightly ashamed of his recklessness. 

"And you want to return to that? Think about it, you have a legitimate job, you don't have the cops snooping into your personal life. Zootopia today is much more tolerant of that sort of day to day stuff than choosing to forego all that just to bring justice. The harsh truth is that in real life, heroes aren't supported by the public." Ray foreboded. 

Jack sighed, "To be honest Ray, I'm living on a more or less shoestring budget with my career. I can't afford a car, an actual house, definitely not children...I'm basically at the edge." 

"And you want me to push you over it? Is that really what you want?" Ray questioned the buck's situation.

Jack shrugged, "I mean, what else can I do right now? I don't have a girlfriend or wife, all my family lives across the ocean, and I only have a few friends. I try to make the best of it but after seeing what happened to you last night, I'm now realizing that this life isn't for me. I want to help, even if it means giving up my so called 'ordinary' life."

Ray was taken aback by the rabbit's words and thought on it for a moment, "Hmm...alright, I see you really want to do something. Okay, at least just for today go on your usual routine, don't get in any more trouble with the cops and don't mention anything that happened here to anyone else, got it?" 

The buck nodded, "I'll do that." 

The ferret held out his paw, "I'll let you be on your way then." 

Jack firmly shook it, "I'm grateful for what you've done for me, truly. I promise I'll pay you back somehow." 

"Don't stress about that, just make sure to keep yourself out of trouble okay? It's not everyday that luck will protect you from danger." 

The buck was sure the police were still on the lookout in the area, "Point taken."

After exchanging their goodbyes, Jack began trekking back home.

By the time he set out Zootopia was already beginning the typical morning rush, with streets clogged up, transportation at full capacity and sidewalk full of mammals out to fulfill their daily duties. In the meanwhile Jack kept a close lookout for any police officers in case they might be looking out for any rabbits in the area with blue eyes as he was sure that Officer Hopps gave a report on it. 

His stomach rumbled as Jack remembered he hasn't had a proper meal since yesterday afternoon, "I guess I have enough time to grab a bite." 

He selected the nearest cafe and waited in the fairly short line, enough to keep Jack from disregarding it, during which he browsed the display showing off the various goods that the cafe offered, one that caught his attention was the strawberry muffins. 

Luckily for him, it was quiet that it allowed some relief from his headache from the hustle and bustle outside. 

"I can help who's next please." the cashier announced out loud.

Jack walked up to the counter which was right at the tip of his ears, "Um, hello, may I have one of those strawberry muffins and a small black tea to go please?"

After paying with his card Jack stepped aside waiting for his quick breakfast so he could get home soon.

"And what would you like today sir?"

"Two blueberry muffins, and a medium black coffee with two creamers please." the next customer requested.

Jack took a brief glance and froze as he recognized Officer Wilde from earlier, though now in his civilian clothes instead of his uniform.

"Fuck, I can't just leave, I already placed my order." he muttered to himself.

After the fox paid for his order he joined Jack across from the pick up counter, "Nice morning we're having huh?"

Jack gulped hearing Wilde talking to him, "Yeah, it's...lovely." 

"Whatcha getting for today?" he asked further, already beginning to annoy Jack.

"Just a strawberry muffin and some tea." Jack quickly answered wishing for the staff to serve his food faster.

"Nice, this place makes some solid muffins, come here at least twice a week." Wilde told the buck.

Jack forced himself to remain calm, "I-I see." 

"Name's Nick by the way, Nick Wilde." the fox introduced himself.

The rabbit couldn't afford to rub him the wrong way, "Jack." 

Nick chuckled, "Jack? Like jackrabbit? Nah, I'm just kidding, I like to tease my friend who's also a rabbit with those kind of puns."

Jack was never skilled at making small talk, even in normal situations he always felt awkward about chatting with strangers with any length beyond a few basic sentences, but Jack was so overridden with fear of being found out that he couldn't act out of step. 

"Your friend must dislike that." Jack said trying to sound as normal as he could.

Nick dismissively waved his paw, "She's cool with that, after working together for a couple of months she's used to it." 

"Good to hear I guess." Jack replied wondering what was taking them so long to make his order. 

The fox tsked, "Although now wouldn't be a good time to push her buttons, she's still a bit upset over work last night." 

Jack felt skittish hearing that the doe was still thinking about him, "Well, whatever happened I'm sure it'll work itself out." 

Nick shook his head amused by the buck's belief, "Nah, she's not the type to give up so easily. Dude better watch out, I'm pretty sure she'll catch him sooner or later." 

"Strawberry muffin and a small black tea for Jack!" one of the staff yelled out.

Jack huffed, "About time." 

He grabbed the paper bag and cup, "I'm taking this home." 

"It was cool talking to you Jack, maybe we'll see each other again." Nick said to the buck.

Jack awkwardly smiled, "If we do, I would prefer it being here." 

"Would be nice, we could even grab a bite together if we meet here again." Nick offered.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Jack felt it wouldn't take that much more time to arrive home by foot compared to taking transportation and even if somehow the police figured him out, he could now disappear into the crowd with not much problem. 

But to save time anyways he consumed his breakfast along the way, trying not to choke on his food anytime he had to maneuver about the crowds of people in the sidewalk. 

"As long as that Officer Hopps doesn't see me then I'll be golden." he told himself still keeping an eye out for any officers. 

He wasn't sure what to do if the two happened to encounter each other on the street like what happened back at the cafe with Nick, as long as she didn't connect the dots all Jack would have to do was to act like any other person on their commute. But for now Jack suspected that she was probably not on the beat right now since she was doing late night patrols with Officer Wilde, but seeing Nick out and about in public meant that Judy may also be roaming around the admittedly expansive city. 

Jack wished that he had bothered to bring his headphones as he sometimes does whenever he had to walk somewhere, but he didn't know in hindsight what was going to happen that night, so all he could do was try to keep his restless mind busy by reciting songs in his head. 

By the time he arrived home he had already eaten his muffin and drank all of the tea, but as he refrained from littering he carried his trash with him all the way to his apartment.

After taking the elevator up a few flights he finally was standing right outside his front door, "Hallelujah, made it in one piece." 

Fumbling with his keys he unlocked the front door and immediately went inside, making sure to lock it once he threw away his trash. 

Jack then walked straight to his bedroom and began stripping off his now dirty clothes and threw it to the floor, reminding himself to pick up it for laundry when he came back home from work. 

His phone indicated that he still had just enough time to shower, which he definitely planned to do to get rid of any smells that may offend his co-workers. 

In the bathroom he turned on the shower and inspected himself closely in the mirror as he waited for the water to warm up properly, "Hmm, my eyes look better now, my boss won't suspect a thing."

He stepped inside and then closed the glass door sighing in relief as the steam and warm water dampened his fur, "Totally safe now..." 

As tempting as it was for Jack to just stay inside the shower for the rest of his life he still had to go to work, reaching for his shampoo he opened the bottle but to his dismay hardly any came out, "Oh for fuck's sake, how could I run out just now?" 

Whatever amount he was able to muster out he applied it mostly to the top of his head since it was really the only visible part of his body, Jack figured he would buy some after work. 

In the rush to return home Jack's hangover seemed like a secondary concern that had to be ignored to the primary threat of being arrested, but now that he was back in the safety of his home his mind finally began to fully relax for the first time since before he went to the bar. 

While he was cleaning himself the best he could his mind began to wander, "I wonder how Sam and Sully are doing, they must be also recovering from their hangover about now. Except they have Sully's mum to cook them some actual breakfast, lucky them..." 

He then shifted towards thinking back to his encounter with Nick, Jack was sure that the fox didn't recognize him whatsoever, however seeing the officer acting so friendly towards him was off-putting considering how Wilde treated Ray the previous night. If it weren't for that incident Jack would've assumed that Nick was just another fox that happened to enjoy muffins and coffee. 

As for Judy, Jack was even more apprehensive towards the idea of seeing her in public. Jack had difficulty even talking to does seeing as he was treated sometimes poorly by them, by virtue of his boyish appearance and awkward demeanor, similar to a high school student. Seeing Officer Hopps being able to keep up with him with no problem and her fierce determination to apprehend him it was safe to say that in a one to one fight against her, he felt he wouldn't last a minute.

What really unnerved the buck was how indifferent Officer Hopps was to her partner's use of force, her cheerful smile made it appear to him that she enjoyed her work, perhaps too much for what her occupation calls for. Normally rabbits are skeptical of such a job befitting them considering their diminutive size and overall appearance that would make criminals look at them with amusement rather than fear. Jack was no different despite his more questionable past, he was smart enough to understand that his small size would work against him in the criminal world, and he would quickly either be jailed or killed if he tried to become part of any gang. 

What truly confounded Jack was how did a doe like her become such a hardy police officer?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the story is coherent and interesting so far, just trying something new.


	5. Eat on the Beat

"Jack! Glad to see you here." an antelope greeted as the buck arrived at his desk.

"Morning Amar, sorry if I'm a bit late, I took longer than I expected getting here." he apologized in his reserved for work professional tone. 

As Jack wanted to keep today as stress free as he could he simply pretended that last night didn't happen for his sanity's sake. 

Amar chuckled, "It's no problem my friend, last night my wife and I were stuck in traffic for almost an hour, I even said to her that our kids will graduate before we get home!" 

Jack appreciated the fact that the antelope remained friendly towards him even if they were just co-workers, so Jack smiled if not at the joke at least because it felt good having some banter with him. 

"Mm, good thing I don't drive then, I would've succumbed to road rage pretty quickly to be honest." 

The antelope continued to laugh, "I would pay to see that, oh and by the way John wanted to see you." 

"Oh? And what is it he wanted?" Jack inquired.

"He just wanted to talk about the project you two were working on, you know that erm...football thing." Amar told the buck.

Jack sighed, "Forgot about that..."

The antelope was slightly concerned about his downtrodden response, "It's tough work isn't it?" 

"Takes a little out of me, yes." Jack admitted nodding.

"Listen I know you're a busy rabbit but I was wondering if you would mind if I asked you over to dinner at my home, my wife and I would love to have you over." Amar offered. 

Jack was surprised by his invitation, "Dinner you say? Would be nice..." 

"It'll be good because we're both herbivores, makes cooking for us a lot easier." Amar noted their similar diets.

"You know what, I'll take you up on your offer." Jack accepted smiling.

The antelope was pleased to hear that, "Great, would tonight work for you?"

The buck decided if it was just visiting a co-worker's house it couldn't be remotely as risky a decision than heading into a derelict bar, "Tonight would be perfect." 

"Haha, tonight it is! I'll let my wife know so we can start prepping early, I hope you don't mind our children being there too." the antelope mentioned the rest of his family. 

Jack waved his paw, "Shouldn't be a bother, I can deal with kids just fine." 

"That's a relief to hear, now I should get back to work, oh and don't forget-" 

Jack nodded and grabbed his folder containing notes for his project, "John, I'm on it. I should be ready by 6 for dinner." 

With the thought of dinner being provided the buck did feel a tinge of excitement, "Hopefully his food is something to look forward to, perhaps not too spicy, hate to have to use the bathroom all night again..." 

John's office was only down the hallway, as technically him and Jack were at roughly the same level of management although with John's experience it was obvious who was the real boss of the floor. 

Jack arrived at the door and took a deep breath, "Alright Jack, you can do this." 

He knocked on the door, "John? It's me, Jack." 

"Yeah Jack come in!" 

The buck opened it revealing a red panda looking at a board of various designs, "You wanted to see me?" 

John nodded and patted the leather chair, "I did, please have a seat." 

The red panda sat at his desk and rested his chin on his paws, "Alright Jack, we've got less than a week to present our final draft to the football league."

Jack nodded and placed the folder on the desk, "Right here, it's preliminary work, but it should give you an idea of where we are at." 

The red panda opened and took a look, his expressions remained mostly neutral but after shuffling a few pages it grew into a small smile, "I like it Jack, like it a lot." 

Jack sighed in relief, "Good." 

John then began to frown, "But there's something missing. This certain...hook, something that would draw people's attention." 

"Hook? Like what?" 

"Listen Jack, this football league isn't just any typical thing, it's the premier league, we're talking millions being spent just to gain access to their networks. The higher ups at this company have left us with a pretty big assignment." John said placing the folder on the desk.

"And what do you propose?" Jack said raising an eyebrow. 

"We need a face, a celebrity maybe." John suggested. 

The buck winced, "Um, celebrities aren't cheap. Unless you count the ones on the casting couch." 

The suggestive joke slipped under John's radar, "The casting couch? Are you saying there's people just sitting around looking for a gig?" 

"Um, that's not what I meant...nevermind, anyways we don't have the budget to hire someone to speak for us. We're sponsoring a car company after all, most of our money is going towards creating posters and ads." Jack refuted the red panda's idea.

John crossed his arms on the desk, "You're right, but these drafts are missing that zest." 

Jack shrugged, "We could always use social media." 

As Jack was younger than John, his proficiency in using the internet was much higher, something that John noted when he promoted Jack to assistant manager.

"Would it help reach out to our targeted audience?" John said interested in Jack's solution.

"Well, the company's saying that they've targeting first-time buyers with their new car, preferably mid sized mammals such as wolves. So, just post a few images, link them to the ads on Zootube and Bob's your uncle." Jack pointed out.

"Yeah, my daughter's always on her phone looking at those um..." John trailed out trying desperately to come up with the word. 

Jack smirked, "Memes?" 

The red panda clapped his paws together, "Memes! I always forget that's what it's called." 

The buck held back some laughter hearing his boss talking about such things, "I'll send the word out to the floor staff, the younger ones will love this." 

"Please do, oh and Jack, I appreciate you for helping out." John graciously thanked the buck. 

Jack hopped off the leather chair, "Glad to be of service. I'll be heading back now." 

After their meeting, the rest of the morning went by fairly quickly and soon enough it was lunch time for him.

With the light breakfast he had earlier, Jack felt famished once again, and as he didn't have the time to pack a lunch from home he decided he would need to venture out from his workplace to find something to eat. However it was still uncertain to the buck whether Officer Hopps was still on patrol or she was off-duty, he could only hope for the latter. 

Jack made up his mind and entered the nearest grocery store in the area, which happened to be a fairly compact one designed specifically for an urban space as such half of the store was practically taken up by the cafe and deli area. But the rabbit felt that a salad would work best for him with time and budget being limited.

He was a fairly slim rabbit, definitely within the healthy range but his family has had a history of heart disease and as such he tried to eat more organic and whole foods when he could.

Right after he sat down at a table ready to eat his carrot salad he suddenly heard a commotion from the front door, "Oh you got to be fucking joking..." 

Two more officers of the ZPD arrived in the cafe and it didn't seem they came looking for a meal, "You think the suspect we're looking for is here?" a wolf officer asked his partner. 

"All the hints we've been receiving makes it sound like he's probably in here." the tigress replied. 

Suddenly Jack's anxiety shot back into panic mode, "Why can't they just fuck off for one moment, first Nick and now these two?" 

Jack was starting to wonder if it was just him having terrible luck or if they were close to figuring out that he was the guy they were looking for. It didn't long before he got his answer. 

"Sir, we would like to have a talk with you." the wolf officer asked from behind. 

The buck jumped a little in his seat, "A-Afternoon officers." 

The two officers sat down at the table as well, "We've been receiving reports about some criminal activity occurring in the area, they suggest drug smuggling. Now, we happen to know that you sometimes come here and that you work nearby." 

Jack gulped, "Is that right?"

The tigress scanned his face for a moment, "We were just asking around for any potential eyewitness to suspicious activity." 

Even if the wolf and tigress remained somewhat casual Jack still felt the intimidation factor of two much larger authoritative figures sitting across from him, the ancient part of his brain screamed at him to flee to avoid being tore to shreds. 

"I'm sorry but I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary." Jack answered truthfully. 

"That's too bad to hear, we were hoping you would have any useful information considering you come here pretty often." the wolf said slightly disappointed.

The buck frowned, "Wait, how do you know I come here?" 

"We use whatever information we think is necessary to help our cases." the tigress known as Fangmeyer stated.

That tidbit of info chilled Jack's blood, "How much do they know about me?" he thought to himself. 

"You're not in trouble or anything, your record is as clean as a whistle, not even a parking ticket." The wolf known as Wolford clarified their intentions. 

Jack held back a sigh of relief, "That's good to hear." 

"Are you sure you haven't seen anything?" Fangmeyer asked again.

The buck shrugged, "This is the first time I heard any crime was taking place here."

"Well, if you see or hear anything just give us a call or come over to the station. Just fill out a form and that'll be it." Fangmeyer explained.

Jack smiled if only because the thought of him going over there seemed like suicide, "Will do, have a fantastic rest of your day." he told them with a hint of sarcasm.

He overheard their conservation as they walked away, "Too bad he didn't find anything." 

"He's pretty cute though." Fangmeyer told the wolf.

Jack felt both indignified and also a little startled hearing someone describe him as cute, both as a slur and also a compliment at the same time. 

He returned to his salad, "Crime? What on Earth is someone thinking selling drugs here?"

"You held up well." 

Jack still feeling on edge flinched as he turned to see Ray sitting down a table, "Okay, one thing to note please don't scare me like that, rabbits aren't good at handling surprises." 

The ferret smirked, "Those two gave you the sweats didn't they?"

"Rabbits don't sweat." Jack said confused at Ray's observation.

"Neither does my species, it was a figure of speech. I meant to say they had you a bit frightened." 

Jack frowned, "Of course they did! Last night I was breaking the law and was chased down by them, how could I not be?"

"Eh, you'll get used to it. Now that they have talked to you they'll start keeping tabs on you, regardless if you're innocent or not." 

The rabbit huffed, "Great, now I'm going to end up like one of those paranoid mammals who spout nonsense about the government spying on them. Wait...why are you here?" 

Ray shrugged, "Getting some groceries." 

"Why not just shop at your neighborhood?" Jack continued to ask feeling suspicious. 

"Not the sharpest tool in the shed are ya?" the ferret joining him at the table.

"Are you following me or something?" Jack said in a hushed tone to avoid drawing attention. 

The ferret nodded, "I was yeah." 

The buck looked around making sure they weren't being watched, "Look, you told me yourself this morning to just do my normal routine and that's what I'm doing, you being here makes that more difficult." 

Ray was amused, "How exactly am I making this difficult for you?" 

"Um let's see...the bloody police sticking their damn noses trying to catch me and they might see you here with me!" Jack whisper shouted. 

"That's hilarious, anyways the real reason I'm here is because there's been an...adjustment in the organization I work at." Ray said using air quotes. 

"Adjustment, what adjustment?" 

Ray tapped his finger on the table, "I would call it more like an opening actually...interested?" 

Jack still wasn't sure if he was ready to fully commit to what Ray offered but he wanted at least to have a look, "I have a job, and for now at least I would like to keep it." 

"Of course, this isn't going to take much of your time. But you wanted to help make a change right?" 

The buck thought over it for a moment, "Yes, I do." 

"You can request the rest of the day off right?" Ray questioned.

"Only for a legitimate reason." Jack replied. 

Ray's smirk returned, "I'll come up with something."


	6. Initiation?

"So Jack...you like any movies?" Ray asked the buck as the two walked down an alley. 

"Why are you asking me this?" Jack replied still feeling wary about the ferret. 

Ray shrugged, "Just wanted to know you better, since you're interested in joining our cause I figured it would be good to gauge your character." 

Jack looked at him for a moment before looking back forward, "Uh-huh." 

"Feeling nervous huh? It's okay to admit it, I felt the same way when I first found out about this place." 

"I'm not nervous, I'm just being cautious that's all." Jack snapped back.

The ferret noted how quickly the buck's patience could be tested, "Whoa, easy there tiger, I understand you don't want to get into any trouble here. Trust me, she'll will go easy on you." 

"Who?" 

Ray stopped at an unmarked backdoor, "You'll see." 

The ferret simply turned the knob to open the already unlocked door, "After you." 

Jack saw only an empty hallway, "You aren't going to skin me alive and hide my corpse down here are you?" 

Ray grinned, "Trust me, if I wanted to do that I would've done so already at my place." 

The buck sighed, "Right." 

Jack shivered as the room temperature was much cooler than the outside, "Bloody hell...what's with this hallway?"

"Oh, we have a server rack nearby, plus Yvonne likes things to be cool, hope it doesn't bother you too much." Ray said walking down the hallway. 

The buck rubbed his arms, "You damn hope so." 

After walking up one flight of stairs they arrived at what seemed like a kitchen, "Um...is this an apartment?"

Ray nodded, "Yeah, more or less, Yvonne isn't one to host something in her own place so we use this one as a safehouse."

Jack walked to the island counter and sat on one of the chairs, "So this Yvonne, where is she?" 

"Probably sleeping, she's nocturnal after all." Ray told the buck as he grabbed a soda can from the fridge. 

"Nocturnal? What is she?" 

Ray smiled, "You'll find out in a moment, I texted her on the way here."

Jack raised his paw politely, "I hate to be a bother but how long exactly is this going to take? I do have something to do later tonight." 

The ferret set down the can on the counter, "Hmm? What were you planning to do?" 

"Dinner with a friend, he's invited me over to meet his family and it would be terribly rude of me to skip out on him. You understand right?" Jack said trying not to sound too worried. 

"I totally get it, I won't hold you up too long, bad enough I pulled you out of work." Ray said somewhat apologetically. 

Jack smirked, "My boss is very easygoing about this, as long as I finish my work he's fine with how I choose to use my time." 

"Glad to hear that, for now keeping your job is probably the best thing to do. Oh, and here she is." 

Jack turned around to see a orange and brown bat walking towards them rubbing her eyes, "I'm here Ray, who's this?"

"Yvonne, this is Jack Savage, he's here because he's interested in joining." the ferret introduced. 

Jack felt some unease seeing her eyes shift around feeling as though she was scanning every detail of him, "I have a few questions." 

The rabbit wasn't sure how to react, "Okay?" 

"Are you or were you ever a police officer?" 

Jack shook his head, "No, never have and never will." 

"Next, you ever been to college?" 

He nodded, "I have, two years at Belltown Community College to learn business and marketing." 

"Have you convicted of any crime?" 

"In Zootopia, no. Back in Britain, quite a few." Jack admitted. 

"Lastly, does Officer Judy Hopps or Nick Wilde know about you?" 

Jack for a moment felt some shock hearing her say that, "How did you-Ray!" 

The ferret took another sip, "I just told her what she needed to know." 

"So, do they know about you?" Yvonne repeated the question. 

Jack fidgeted a little, "Nick might know a little about me." 

Yvonne pulled out a notepad, "How so? Does he know about your trespassing?" 

Jack again shook his head, "No, we met by chance at a cafe this morning, he didn't seem to recognize me since he introduced himself to me. It was like he wasn't even an officer, he was so...casual." 

Yvonne wrote down his response, "Good, keep it that way, don't want that fox snooping around here and messing with things." 

"Don't mind her, she's very thorough about the details. If it weren't for her I would be a mess trying to keep it all together." Ray told Jack.

"I see, so are you two friends or what?" 

Ray chuckled, "Actually, she's my mate." 

"Oh." Jack simply uttered in surprise. 

The ferret walked to Yvonne and wrapped his arm around her, "Yup, about a year now. Isn't that right?" 

She continued to write in her notepad, "350 days to be exact." 

The ferret nuzzled his nose on her cheek, "Two weeks until our first anniversary." 

"Mates? Isn't interspecies marriage legal here?" Jack asked still figuring out how the relationship works. 

"It is but we are less traditional in that way, we love each other and that's enough for us." Ray declared. 

A small but noticeable smile appeared to her otherwise stoic demeanor, "He's helped me through a lot, he tries his best to be a good mate." 

Jack also smiled, "And how is he as a mate then?" 

Yvonne put her notepad into her pocket, "6.5 out of 10." 

"What? 6.5? Why is it so low?" Ray said a little upset at her scoring.

She planted a kiss on his cheek, "Primarily because you worry too much, I want my mate to live the rest of his days with me, not prematurely dying from a panic attack." 

"I don't worry too much, I just want things to go right." Ray insisted. 

The bat returned to her stoic expression, "And they will, you just need to trust others more."

Jack felt it would be wise to break up the love fest, "I understand you two are a couple, but that's not what I came here for." 

The bat shooed away the ferret, "Sorry, he tends to get lovey-dovey when we've been separate for a while." 

"It's been three whole days." Ray retorted. 

Yvonne crossed her wings, "You constantly call and text me in those three days, I like my beauty sleep you know."

"I'm confused, if you miss being around her, why don't you just move in together?" Jack asked the ferret. 

Ray sighed, "It's complicated, I know it's not really an answer but that's the best short way to explain it." 

"Alright then, I'm sorry I asked." Jack said holding his paws up.

"What about you, are you in a relationship?" Ray asked the buck.

It was Jack's turn to feel embarrassed, "Um well...depends on how you define that, it's been...three years maybe? Even then I wouldn't call her my girlfriend really." 

Ray felt some empathy for him, "Not much luck huh?" 

The rabbit sat down on the stool, "It's fine, you don't need to try to make me feel better, I've been busy enough trying to keep my life together. I don't need to risk a bad relationship because of it." 

"We should move on Ray, you know...the organization?" Yvonne pointed out.

Ray gave his mate an apologetic smile, "Oh yeah, sorry I got sidetracked. Uh, where to start." 

"An overview might be enough for me." Jack said relaxing on the counter.

"Sure, hopefully you can follow what I'm about to say." Ray told the buck.

Jack scratched his ear, "I'll keep up." 

"Okay. Forty years ago Zootopia had massive riots across the entire city, reason was because of cuts to public healthcare, problem was that many low-income people depended on those programs to get the care they need." Ray began to explain.

Jack frowned, "Seems unwise." 

The ferret nodded, "It was. Already tensions were pretty high in those struggling neighborhoods, keep in mind that it was only recently that discrimination and segregation was outlawed so society was still adjusting to this new expectation." 

"I guess even today there's still some distrust between prey and predators." Jack chimed in his opinion.

"You'd be right on that, now back then the ZPD was all predator, at the time it was really controversial because historically Zootopia was majority prey, but the lack of them in the police force created this perception that the police were only looking out for the predator population." 

Yvonne joined by Ray's side, "After the government announced the cuts to funding, there were widespread protests particularly in Tundratown where it was difficult to afford heating up their homes. Then after a few days of protesting the ZPD chief essentially cracked down hard on these protests." 

"Zootopia at the time was actually quite authoritarian, the government was run by a hardline predator mayor who didn't share much love for the poor, especially poor prey." Ray added. 

Jack took a major interest in this new information, "I've never heard about any of this, it's mental." 

"Nowadays the government wants to promote this image of equality and peace, but it's just an illusion." Ray scoffed.

The bat held his paw, "Ray told me about what happened to him last night, you saw it yourself Jack, the police force still utilizes brute force to enforce the government's wishes." 

"I noticed." Jack simply said still feeling resentment towards the officers who assaulted the ferret.

"The police launched what was probably the most brutal crackdown in their history, they would use weapons such as batons, tear gas, tasers, you name it." Ray described the event. 

Yvonne frowned, "We found confidential documents from the ZPD, six dead and more than eighty injured after just two days of the operation in Tundratown alone." 

Jack froze in his chair, "Fuck me." 

"If you need proof, I have those documents in this folder." Ray said pulling them out of a drawer. 

Lending them to the rabbit Jack quickly scanned over the pages, confirming the same information that was just given to him. 

"Where did you get this?"

"A former officer who quit because he didn't want to be a part of it anymore." Ray explained.

Jack felt almost numb from processing all of it, "I don't know what to say." 

Ray sat down next to him, "I know it's overwhelming, this isn't the only case of police brutality but it shows what they are willing to do to 'maintain the peace'." 

"A group of criminals, that's all they are." Jack said almost whispering. 

"If you need to let it out this is the best place for it." Yvonne told him.

The rabbit's body shook a little, "I always knew that the police weren't to be trusted but this is something else entirely." 

"I want to show you something but you'll need to control yourself first." the ferret said.

"I'm fine." Jack insisted.

"You clearly aren't, I'll give you some water to drink." Ray said pouring some into a cup.

Jack took it and took some sips to try to relieve some of his anger, "Okay, I think I'm better." 

Ray pulled out a picture from his wallet, "See her? That's my grandmother, she started all this." 

Jack could see the middle aged ferret standing among a group of people of various species all standing in front of a house, "She definitely looks tougher than the average ferret." 

Ray proudly nodded, "She was, despite her small size she wasn't one to back down." 

"And what did she do?"

"She studied history and law in college, met my grandfather during that and after graduation they got married. They then spent their time helping others who couldn't fight for themselves and protesting the government for their discriminatory laws. Of course that meant that most citizens turned their backs on them because some thought they were just criminals or even terrorists."

"What about your grandfather? Was he involved too?" Jack then asked. 

"Didn't make it, was arrested and thrown in prison where he died from disease. Lived to only 35, left behind my Dad and my aunt." the ferret solemnly explained.

"I'm sorry." Jack simply replied. 

Ray put the picture back in his wallet, "It's okay, again this happened way before I was even born, and my grandmother bless her soul has lived a full, colorful life. She's taught me everything to know about the police and what they really do to people like us, trying to break free of their oppression."

"My grandparents did the same, as soon as they immigrated here from Taiwan they were already getting into protests too, they grew up under an oppressive government as well so they had experience." Yvonne spoke of her own background. 

"Well my grandparents were part of the government, my grandfather worked for the post office and my grandmother before she had kits helped organized things in the military." Jack told the two.

"Did they ever talk about their jobs?" Ray asked the buck.

"Er...not really, both of them were staunch Conservative supporters however, even today you ask either of them about politics and they'll ramble on for ages." Jack said smiling.

The ferret sighed, "Sounds fun."

Jack sighed, "Oh, for them maybe, I'm lucky I didn't end up like them otherwise I would be one stuck-up twat. I admit your grandparents seem more connected to reality than mine ever were."

"Our mission is to expose the ZPD for who they really are and hopefully turn the tides against them with public support, both on the street and at the ballot." 

"Hate to interrupt but our organization runs under strict confidentiality, Ray may have warmed up to you but you're still just an outsider, unless you decide to join our group we can't divulge too much about us." Yvonne said sternly.

Jack tsked, "I understand, if I was an undercover officer personally I probably would've hit the jackpot." 

Ray stood right besides him, "You're not right?" 

It was clear to the buck that Ray intended to intimidate him but Jack regardless wouldn't have been afraid of someone the same size as him, "If I trusted you not to be some murderer, you can trust me not to be a cop. Besides, if I was one I would've stopped those two officers from breaking into your home like that." 

It took a moment for the ferret to be convinced but the look on Jack's face gave him the proof he needed, "You're probably right, would you give us a second?" 

Jack nodded, "Yeah." 

Ray and Yvonne left the kitchen leaving the buck to sit there wondering what was going to happen next, a small part of him still suspected that they were going to make him their next meal but he felt that at least the ferret was trustworthy enough. 

After a few minutes the two returned, "Okay, we decided that you are eligible to join us." 

"Isn't there normally a catch to this sort of thing?" Jack asked suspiciously. 

Ray winked, "You're correct. Think of it as a sort of initiation." 

"Please tell me this doesn't involve me getting beat up by everyone else." Jack half-sarcastically asked.

"No, trust me, we already been through enough trauma. I overheard from those two cops earlier about you having no record, am I right?" 

Jack wasn't sure were this was going, "...Yes?" 

"We want to know if the ZPD is planning something, there's been word going around that they are planning to raid one of our members' house." Yvonne told the buck.

"What do you want me to do? Try and join them? If it isn't clear, I'm not in any way capable of such a job." 

"That would be funny to see, but no, we just want you to maybe buddy up with one of them and I know what you are going to say, 'I don't want to become friends with those bloody bastards!'" Ray predicted mimicking Jack's accent. 

The buck was impressed by Ray's ability to mimic him, "That's pretty much exactly what I would say, and also this, it's a stupid idea." 

"How else would we gather the information?" 

Jack checked the time on his phone, "Well, I'm not an expert, but I'm sure you could hack yourself into the system somehow? Don't you have someone to do that for you?" 

The bat shook her head, "We don't have the resources for that, we've tried a few times but they are very secure with such information, and the CB radio wouldn't help either since they wouldn't announce their plans over the air where anyone could hear it." 

"Bollocks to that then, why don't you then just help the person that's being allegedly targeted by the police?" 

Ray huffed, "There's a few problems, one, his house is miles away so it would take way too long to transfer everything important to us from his home to a safe place, another is that he has family living there, a wife and eight kids and trying to convince them to leave is impossible." 

Jack rubbed his chin, "If it's outside Zootopia, why would the ZPD want to raid it? It's outside their jurisdiction right?" 

"Haven't stopped them before, they conduct raids outside the city limits if they need to. The city's powerful enough to sway other towns to allow them to do their business within their own borders." Yvonne said.

The rabbit smirked, "Seems a bit much to try to stop crime." 

"The police aren't exactly concerned about that." the ferret replied as a matter of fact. 

Jack tapped his fingers on the counter behind him, "So...you want me to become friends with an officer and somehow get access to their plans." 

"We think it might work." Ray insisted.

The buck was skeptical, "Really? Question here, if you believe the police here are corrupt, why not just bribe one of them to do your bidding?" 

"They're not corrupt in that way, they protect each other yes but they aren't likely to accept outside of 'donations' from the rich." 

Jack shrugged, "I don't know any of the rozzers on a personal level, I tend to stay away from them but lately it seems like fate has decided to push them on me." 

The ferret walked around the buck, "Well maybe it's fate telling you something, course it's up to you to decipher that." 

"I would tell it to fuck off and leave me alone. But, I guess it was my own curiosity that brought me here in the first place." Jack conceded. 

"It'll be easy, as far as they are concerned you are an ordinary buck living his ordinary life in the big city." Ray said attempting to convince him.

"I still think that this isn't the best idea." 

Ray patted his shoulder, "I'll let you think on it, you have my number right?" 

Jack checked his contacts list, "I do."

"If you decide to go ahead with this, let me know alright?" 

The buck looked down at the floor still thinking through about today, "Sure."

"Hey, there was a lot of things I just told you, it's okay if it's overwhelming. That's why I'll let you decide whether if you want to do this or not, no pressure." Ray assured. 

"I got everything you said, it's more like I don't want to chew more than I can swallow." Jack clarified his indecisiveness.

Ray was curious about Jack's abilities, "How so?" 

"To be fair, I'm already busy with my job and my life. I'm not a 'Jack of all trades', even if I want to help you guys out." 

"We can talk more about this later if you wish, but Ray and I still need to discuss our next move, how to move Aden and his family out of danger." Yvonne told Jack.

Jack couldn't imagine his own family under threat of being breached by the authorities, "Sounds rough. I hope you find a way to get them out before the police show up." 

The ferret leaned on the wall, "It's a matter of convincing them of the danger, that's why we need evidence to prove it to them." 

Inside the rabbit found himself being urged to act, "Alright, for the sake of this Aden's family, I'll try to find a way to bring you something, but your suggestion of befriending a police officer is more of a last resort option." 

Ray exhaled in relief, "Thanks Jack, I know that this is tough for you, but I'm forever grateful seeing you trying to help us." 

"It's not a problem, it's a favor I intended to return." the rabbit resolutely stated.

"What? Is this about hiding you from the cops? I was just doing it because I didn't want you to be their next victim." Ray said surprised at Jack's rationale.

"If there's one thing my dad taught me as a kit it was that favors should always be repaid. Even when I was a troublemaker I still made good with my friends, they treated me well and I did the same." Jack told them.

The rabbit impressed Ray with his conviction, "That's a good moral to instill."

Yvonne held out her wing, "It was nice meeting you, Jack." 

Jack shook it, "Same, thank you for shedding some light on the matter." 

Jack then shook Ray's paw, "I'll be heading out now, since I'm not working anyways I'm going home to get ready for dinner with my co-worker." 

The ferret smiled, "I hope you enjoy it, and good luck with whatever you plan to do." 

"Thank you, I hope all goes well for you two also. And exactly, I forgot to ask this earlier, what is the name for your group?" 

"Again, until you are officially a member we can't disclose that, sorry." Yvonne informed the buck.

"Oh, it's no worries, just wanted something to reference by, that's all." Jack assured the bat that no harm was caused by her withdrawal.

"Before you head out, would you mind telling us how exactly you're going to do this?" Ray questioned.

Jack couldn't hold back an awkward smile, "I haven't a clue to be honest, but I'll figure something out."


	7. First Impressions

Jack wasn't worried about impressing his co-worker, him and Amar knew each other well enough that there was no particular need to act formal with each other, however as he was to meet Amar's wife and his children for the first time he opted to present himself in a respectable manner, choosing a dark blue dress shirt and gray slacks and combing his head fur in an attempt to seem more mature.

Amar's house was the typical two-story townhouse located several blocks away from Jack's apartment building, despite the tight spacing between townhouses it was enough for a pathway and some garbage bins to be placed on the right side of the house. However from Jack's perspective he couldn't see any of the backyard which he assumed was also very small. 

Arriving at the front door he took a deep breath, "Okay, easy Jack, it's just him and his family. They already know you're coming." 

With his diminutive size, the buck had to jump slightly to reach the doorbell button, "Hopefully everything's been sorted, would hate to arrive early." 

He heard footsteps and upon the door being opened a female antelope appeared, "You must be Mr. Savage, I'm Mona."

The rabbit wasn't sure how to approach her but he had to introduce himself, "Good evening Mona, um...you can call me Jack, it's not a problem for me being called that." 

"Of course, you may come in Jack, my husband is in the kitchen right now finishing our dinner." the antelope said as she beckoned him in.

Jack admittedly felt a little disappointed that the food wasn't readily available, "Oh, is he still cooking then?" 

Mona smiled re-assuredly, "Don't worry, should be ready just about now. I'll help him set the table, you can sit in the living room while we get everything ready." 

As soon as he entered the house his nose was overwhelmed with the smells of an entirely foreign culture, everything from the old furniture to the various rugs and curtains all richly smelled of something Jack had previously never experienced. 

"W-Wow, it's quite a bit to take in..." Jack said looking around the interior of the house in awe. 

"The children are in the back playing, I'll call them in for dinner." Mona informed him as she walked towards the back sliding door. 

Jack was never a big fan of hanging around with children, although since they were Amar's the buck felt at least he should tolerate them.

"Remember, be respectful to our guest." Mina told her children as they walked inside.

"Yeah yeah, I get it..." 

"He's a rabbit?"

Jack saw the two youth, one a teenage female and a much younger male, "Um...hey."

"I didn't expect you to be a rabbit." the elder calf said scrutinizing the newly arrived guest.

Jack looked at her curiously, "Oh yeah? What were you thinking of?" 

She shrugged, "I don't know, someone bigger? Dad talked about you once or twice before, but he never said about what species you were." 

"What's your name?" the younger antelope calf asked.

"My name's Jack Savage." he simply replied.

The little calf beamed happily, "I'm Tyler."

"Pleasure to meet you Tyler." Jack acknowledged in a friendly manner. 

Tyler was enthralled by the buck's accent, "Whoa, are you like some kind of spy?" 

"Hmm? I beg your pardon?" Jack asked taken aback by his particular question.

Mona chuckled as she scooped him up into her arms, "He likes to watch spy movies, a lot of them are British like you. He's still very young so anyone with an accent like yours he thinks is some kind of secret agent." 

"Oh, that is a little funny to be honest. But I can tell you right now I'm not some sort of spy." Jack confirmed politely to the young calf.

Tyler's smile disappeared into disappointment, "Aw..."

"And what's your name?" Jack asked the older calf.

"Hannah."

Quickly Jack realized that he had nothing else to say towards the two children, "Has Amar happen to have dinner ready?" 

Mona nodded, "He just finished, let's have a seat at the dining table." 

The buck did as told and nearly gasped seeing the amount of food on the table, "Holy crap...is this really our dinner?"

"Just about, we might have gone a little overboard with how much we made." Amar said arriving from the kitchen carrying a pot.

Jack sat down at the dinner table but found himself barely over the actual edge with his head poking out, "This is a bit embarrassing, you don't happen to have something to help me get a better seating position?"

Amar tsked, "Oops, I forgot about you being short, I'll grab something out of the closet."

"I'm not short, I'm three inches above the average for bucks of my species!" Jack huffed.

Tyler laughed, "Rabbits are tiny!" 

Mona lightly smacked his shoulder, "Don't be rude Tyler, apologize to Jack now." 

"I-I'm sorry." the calf apologized looking down at the table.

"You don't have to be too sorry about it, you're still very young and you don't understand everything there is to know about us. For example, not all rabbits are tiny." Jack started to explain.

Tyler sat bolt upright in attention, "Really? Are there big rabbits too?" 

"Huge, I've met rabbits twice my size, in fact I've seen one as tall as a small wolf, I'm not even kidding." Jack truthfully attested to. 

"Whoa! Dad! Did you hear that?" Tyler said practically jumping at his seat. 

"I did, here you go Jack, this pillow should help you eat."

The rabbit sat on the firm pillow and to his surprise it did help him see the table better, "Thanks a lot."

"So Jack where exactly did you see these rabbits?" Amar asked his co-worker sitting back down.

Jack thought on it, "Hmm, let's see, I was on holiday in France...north of Paris I'm guessing since my family and I stopped at some little town, full of those mighty beasts roaming around." 

"You went to France?" Hannah asked almost in disbelief. 

He nodded, "Of course, it was only a short drive from my hometown to the train that goes through the Channel Tunnel into France. Every summer my family would stay there for holiday." 

Hannah scoffed, "Dad! Why can't we go to France?" 

Amar felt disappointed having to tell his daughter, "Because it's too expensive, didn't you like our trip to the state park last month?" 

"It was okay, but we never have gone to another country!" 

"Enough Hannah, we have a guest here and I will not tolerate any arguments at the table." her father said shutting down her protest.

She was exasperated at his response, "But...fine."

Jack wanted to tell Hannah that she should be thankful that her father even took her out somewhere but in the interest of maintaining the peace he chose to remain quiet on the matter.

"So, what do we have here?" Jack said looking at the various dishes on the table, to him all looked very appetizing. 

"This right here is tandoori tofu, it's spicy just to let you know, this one is naan stuffed with hummus and squash, and this is chana masala. We added some carrots to the masala since we thought you might enjoy them." Mona told Jack.

The buck felt slightly awkward being served the stereotypical rabbit food item, "Oh, right because I'm a rabbit. It all looks very delicious I must say, hopefully I don't burn a hole in my stomach from the spices." 

Amar gave a short laugh, "I hope you love it, we don't know much about how rabbits eat." 

Jack could see that Amar was pretty casual talking about food, "Oh, it won't be a bother as long as there's no meat. Had a nasty shock before eating something with cricket in it, felt sick to my stomach for days." 

After waiting a few minutes, the food was distributed among the dinner table and the three dishes sat in front of an anticipating Jack, "It looks amazing." 

"Give it a try, it won't hurt you...too badly." Amar added jokingly. 

Jack grabbed the spoon, "Let's try this um...masala?"

"It's my favorite, but don't eat too much at once, that's all I'm saying." Hannah chimed in.

The buck scooped up some, "Thanks for the warning." 

As it was still hot Jack blew on it several times to make sure it was suitable and took a sip, "Hmm, well...it is spicy like you said but I can tolerate it. Yeah, it's bang on." 

"What does that mean?" Amar asked. 

"Just saying it's really good." Jack said giving a thumbs up. 

The antelope sighed, "Whew, what a relief, I was worried it would be too much for you." 

"It's well done. I ate my share of spicy kebabs and takeout when I was younger, I'm pretty used to spicy food." Jack assured taking another sip.

"Glad to hear, try this naan, it goes well with the masala." Amar suggested.

Jack grab the baked good, "Um, do I dip it then?"

"Try it first without and then dip it." 

The buck sniffed the naan, "Doesn't seem like anything's off." 

He took a small bite and began chewing it, "Um...it's doughy, but it's still good." 

He dipped the naan in the soup and tried it again, "Yeah, it does go better with it." 

Jack was a bit worried at this point, it was obvious by now that the portioning was meant for the antelope family but as the buck was only slightly taller than Tyler his appetite couldn't match theirs, at the same time he didn't want to seem rude by leaving food on the plate. 

"Do you like tofu?" Mona asked. 

Jack squinted at it, "Actually not really, it's something I think is made for carnivores, not herbivores like me." 

"It's tandoori tofu, it gives it some more flavor with the spices. My friends keep asking me for more whenever they come here." Hannah said mildly annoyed at the fact. 

The buck was amused, "You don't say...alright I'll give it a try." 

He poked at it with his fork and sure enough it responded with a slight jiggle, unnerving the rabbit who was used to eat firmer food in the form of vegetables and fruit he took a chunk off the corner.

"Okay...hmm...oh, um..." 

Jack began coughing, "I'm terribly sorry, but I still don't like it." 

"It's no worries, I'm happy you tried it anyways." Amar assured the buck.

Jack continued to cough and grabbed the cup of water, "This was much spicier than I was expecting." 

Mona chuckled, "I'm surprised that the tofu was too spicy for you, normally the masala gets to people who eat it but you're the first one that the tofu got you." 

He downed several gulps some of the pain was relieved, "I'm going to skip the tofu then." 

After the initial setback the rest of the dinner went smoothly to Jack's surprise, he was sure at some point he was going to screw up the conservation with his questionable sense of humor but he somehow managed not to offend any of the family, he even won their attention with his stories. 

"Okay, so when I was about Tyler's age my mum took me and my brothers and sisters to the British Museum, keep in mind we are a small family by rabbit standards but it was still seven of us including our mother. This museum is pretty strict about parents looking out for their own kids so my mum watched us like a hawk, no pun intended, anyways me being the mischievous one managed to escape her and I ran right towards this statue, I think it was one of the Prime Ministers? Anyways I ducked underneath the rope and started climbing it." 

"Cool! I wanna do that!" Tyler exclaimed.

"You wouldn't want to because as soon as I started climbing the statue one of the security officers ran towards me and kept yelling at me to stop. I'll have to admit as soon as I realized how far up I was I became really scared and started crying in front of everyone." Jack recalled in embarrassment. 

Hannah could imagine a smaller Jack crying in public, "That must've sucked for your mom to get you huh?"

Jack whistled, "Oh yeah, my mum told me off still in front of everyone for who knows how long. And after that I wasn't allowed to leave the house except for school for at least a month."

"Seeing you now I wouldn't have seen you as that type of bunny, Jack." Amar said noting the difference in attitude.

"Maybe that part of me is still here somewhere." Jack said pointing at his heart. 

Though Jack was completely stuffed at this point he was genuinely enjoying the company of Amar's family, even eating with his own family didn't share the sort of positive energy that diffused throughout the room. It made Jack wish that his own family learned not to bicker and divide itself over petty topics but instead model themselves with this family instead. 

"I have to admit, I'm having more fun being here than I expected." Jack spoke aloud his thoughts. 

"Well we like to treat guests like our family, and we're really glad that you decided to come over." Mona told the buck as she collected the dishes. 

The rabbit went into a moment of deep thought, "Family huh? Is that what I'm missing?" he muttered. 

"What's wrong?" Amar asked.

Jack shook his head, "Nothing, just um, digesting my food." 

"Want to have dessert in the backyard?" the antelope suggested.

The rabbit smiled, "Sounds wonderful, what's the dessert?" 

"Just macaroons, I bought some from the bakery earlier for today."

Jack was relieved to hear it was a light dessert, "I would love some." 

The backyard was nothing remarkable, it was large enough to house a small pool presumably for Tyler and Hannah, there was a old shed at the corner and various decorations spread around the area. 

Jack and Amar sat down on the patio chairs, with Amar setting a plate of macaroons on the table between them, "You okay Jack? Back there you seem kind of troubled." 

"Just all the food in my stomach, it's hard to stand straight." Jack said attempting to deflect Amar's concern. 

The antelope grabbed one of the macaroons, "I can tell when something's troubling someone, you can tell me, I've been through a lot when I was young so it wouldn't bother me to hear." 

Jack decided it couldn't hurt to share a tidbit of himself, "Mona said earlier that you treat guests like family, tell me, why do you?"

"Because it's part of my culture, my family has followed this tradition for generations. Even in this country I still follow those traditions." Amar replied.

"Guess I was just surprised how much you guys took care of me. I couldn't have pulled off such a thing by myself." Jack admitted.

The antelope began to worry, "Do you feel bad about you being our guest?"

"No! Of course not, I enjoyed my time here. I was talking nonsense about me not being able to host like your family just did." Jack denied.

"If I haven't told you before I will tell you now, I consider you a good friend Jack, it's good to have you here and I don't want you to feel bad for us." Amar affirmed.

Jack smiled, "That's a relief to hear, and I guess you're also a good friend to have around. I'm glad I came over."

"You're always welcome to come back for dinner if you want." Amar invited.

"I'll keep that in mind. You seem to have a well-adjusted family life." Jack inferred through their dinner.

By now the sun had disappeared over the skyline ahead of them and the sky was a bright orange slowly transitioning into a dark blue, this made Jack feel even more tired than before, "It's getting pretty late, if I don't leave now I'm going to pass out here." 

Amar glanced over at Jack, "It'll be okay if you do, I would just carry you onto the couch and let you sleep there." 

The buck's eyelids fluttered, "I should...really get going..." 

"You alright Jack?"

By then it was too late, the buck had already dozed into a food-induced coma.


	8. A Light Touch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, depiction of violence

" _Jack_ _!_ "

The buck woke up to find himself in what appeared to be the main park of downtown Zootopia, "Huh? How I'd get here?"

"Stop resisting!"

Jack turned to find Officer Hopps harshly subduing Sam, "What are you doing? Let go of her!"

The gopher yelped in pain as the rabbit pressed her knee into her face, "Jack, help!"

The buck quickly became enraged and sprinted towards the two, "Get off her!"

The doe officer didn't seem to heed his call and Jack in desperation grabbed a large rock, "I'm warning you!"

As the officer didn't respond again the buck threw the rock directly into the doe's head instantly knocking her off the gopher, "That'll show you...huh?"

The buck looked on in disbelief seeing the doe bleeding out into the concrete below lifeless, "Oh fucking hell, what did I do?"

"Killed your friend, that's what."

Jack turned to see a smiling Nick in his cop uniform slowly walking towards him, "I was defending her from you dirty cops!"

The fox displayed a fake expression of confusion, "Oh yeah? Explain that."

The rabbit saw him point back towards where Judy was and gasped in horror seeing instead of the doe it was Sam lying in a puddle of blood, "No I didn't...I didn't hit her!"

"And? Who's going to believe you?" Nick teased.

"You saw it! I didn't kill Sam!" Jack shouted insistingly.

Jack felt his wrists being forcefully held back, "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law..."

The buck saw it was Judy who was arresting him, "No! I didn't kill her, I didn't!"

He was forced down to the ground on his knees with Nick walking up to him, "Sure you didn't, and I'm _not_ going to wack you upside the head with this nightstick."

Jack became terrified seeing the bloody baton being lifted from its holster, "Let go!"

"We have to keep the peace." Judy simply stated with no emotion.

Nick maliciously grinned, "Night night little bunny."

Before Jack could react the fox swung the baton right into his head.

"No!" Jack yelled out.

He panted looking around realizing he was back at Amar's house, "Oh...it was just a dream, holy hell that was terrifying."

He placed his paw in the same spot of his head he dreamed that the fox struck with the baton, " _He wouldn't do that...would he_?"

Despite him knowing it was just a bad dream, the rabbit couldn't shake off the fear that accompanied it. 

Jack patted his pockets and to his relief his phone was still there, the screen itself displaying that it was 3 in the morning.

" _I must've dozed off, Amar probably put me here_."

Part of him wanted to call Sam just to see if she was safe but he decided against it for now since it was likely she was sleeping, but the image of his friend's bloodied corpse haunted him.

Jack figured that his brain was trying to tell him something, "Maybe I should avoid the police for the time being."

The rabbit looked out the front window into the dark streets, "I might not be strong or tall or smart, but I want to do something, but what?"

His preceding dream both confused and terrified him, would Nick and Judy really kill him just to 'keep the peace'? His rational side suggested of course they weren't going to do such a thing to him, but his primal side felt particularly suspicious of being around the fox who in an instant could choose to end his life right there and suffer no repercussions. 

" _I don't know, Nick seems like an alright person, for a fox at least. But he doesn't seem like the type to restrain his use of force_." his skeptical side told himself. 

Jack looked at his own body and speculated how long he could survive against Nick, "I couldn't hold him off at all, I would be an instant meal for him back in the wild." 

Underneath the doubt and fear, frustration bubbled up inside him, " _Why couldn't they just have left Ray alone?"_

He shuddered to think what would've happened if Officer Hopps had found him inside that closet, Jack guessed a swift arrest and perhaps a beating would've resulted just seeing what they did to Ray. 

Thinking back about him being nearly arrested the buck had an epiphany, he would risking not only his career but perhaps even his own life as his dream forewarned him if he chose to go against the ZPD. But the urge to bring any sort of justice overwhelmed those fears.  

Jack laid back down on the couch and shut his eyes, "Hopefully I don't end up in deep shit."

After several dreamless hours Jack was awakened by footsteps on the stairs, "Good morning Jack."

The rabbit looked over to see Mona standing on the stairs, "Morning, um...sorry for sleeping out back."

She chuckled, "It's okay, Amar took you inside as soon as you fell asleep."

"Well I'm thankful for that, I prefer not becoming a pawsicle." Jack joked.

"Would you like some coffee or tea?" she offered.

Jack shrugged, "Tea would be lovely, something to help relax my stomach."

He checked his phone again and it showed it was 7 in the morning, "Is Amar still sleeping?"

She nodded, "He likes to sleep in when there's no work."

The rabbit smirked, "Guess we have more in common than I thought."

Jack was reminded that he also had no work today so he laid back on the comfortable couch and yawned, "You have any plans for today?"

Mona shook her head as she retrieved the tea box, "Not much, maybe I'll take Tyler to the park so he can play and get some exercise."

The buck smiled, "Sounds nice, I guess I'll be heading back home after drinking this tea then."

Jack got back up and stretched, "That dinner really knocked me out, I still can feel it actually."

"I'm guessing you're going to skip breakfast then?" Mona asked the rabbit.

"Probably a good idea, overeating isn't the way I want to start today." Jack replied rubbing his stomach.

After Mona made a couple of quick cups, she handed them over to Jack who gratefully accepted it, "Mm, this smells different than most teas I had before, but it smells really good."

"Just some jasmine tea, but it's been specially treated to make it taste better." the antelope told him.

Jack took a sip and sighed in contentment, "Well I love it, perfect for just getting up. Tell me, where did you buy this?"

"Actually I brought it over from my parent's house, they live in India so I can't really say."

The buck was a little disappointed at the information, "Oh, that's a shame, I would love to buy this for breakfast time."

He took another sip and set the cup down, "Assuming Amar doesn't wake up by the time I left, could you tell him thanks for me?"

"Of course, Amar told me before bed that you seemed happy sleeping and that he didn't want to move you because he was worried you would wake up." Mona recalled.

Jack blushed hearing her say that, "Well that's a bit embarrassing to hear, I wonder how he managed to carry me without waking me up anyways."

"I think you were light enough he could go slowly without hurting himself." Mona suggested.

"Sounds about right." Jack said finishing up his cup.

At this point the buck was ready to head home, "Again, thank you very much for allowing me to eat here, I had a great time getting to know you and your family."

"We enjoyed having you here, I'll let Amar know you felt the same." Mona assured.

He headed for the front door, "Thank you Mona, it's great to be in the company of family like yours."

Inside it stung him that a family like Amar's was in danger of being persecuted by the police, he couldn't imagine how destructive it would be to their lives and he didn't intend on finding out.

Outside Jack could see that the sky was a uniform light gray, however it lacked the threatening appearance that preceded any rain so he assumed it was safe to just walk home.

The entire walk home the rabbit was in deep thought about what he was going to do next, " _It's not like I could convince the chief of police to hold off on raiding someone's house. Think Jack..._ "

He grew frustrated with himself as no ideas came to mind, " _This is tough, maybe I should just tell Ray we need to think of something else to get his friend out of harm's way_." 

Jack pulled out his phone and opened the contacts list, "Let's see his number should be here..." 

However right underneath his name was Sam's and suddenly his previous dream came back only this time all he could think about was seeing Sam's lifeless body on the ground, "I should talk to Sam, just to clear my head." 

He hesitated for a moment and dialed her number, standing in the middle of a plaza leading to the mall there were some other people walking about the area but as it was still early in the morning it wasn't too busy for the rabbit to have a conservation. 

"Hello?" Sam spoke through the speaker.

"Um...good morning Sam." Jack awkwardly said trying not to sound worried. 

Sam yawned, "Jack, it's really early, what do you want?" 

"I just wanted to check on you, make sure everything's okay." Jack explained his phone call to her. 

"I'm fine Jack, you don't normally call this early, heck you barely wake up this early. Something bothering you?" Sam asked. 

Jack sighed, "Um, well if you want to know, I had...some trouble sleeping last night." 

"What? Like a bad dream or something?" 

The buck felt a little embarrassed, "Yeah, something like that." 

She scoffed, "Jack, whatever that dream was about it's not real okay?"

"You're right, maybe I got myself worked up over nothing." Jack said agreeing with her.

Sam was silent for a moment then spoke, "Was this dream about me?"

"W-What? No! What makes you think that?" Jack stammered hoping she didn't catch on. 

"Considering you called me this early in the morning to ask if I'm okay and telling me you had a bad dream kinda gave me the hint." Sam told him. 

The rabbit conceded that she knew now, "Alright, I admit that it was about you." 

"Was it that bad that you had to call me?" she then questioned in a slightly annoyed tone. 

"It was, I guess I've been a little stressed out lately." 

Despite admitting what happened last night to his friend, Jack felt some of his anxiety go away the more he talked to her, as they were close friends he felt that he could trust talking to her about these things. 

"Are you still feeling jumpy about the police?" 

There was some truth to her observation, "Part of it yeah." 

"Look Jack, I appreciate you calling to see if I'm okay but trust me, I'm not doing anything crazy or getting involved in things, I'm fine and there's nothing to worry about." 

He smiled gratefully, "Thanks, that's all I wanted to hear from you." 

"Cool, now I'm going to go back to sleep, we'll meet up if you want to talk about this some more okay?" Sam offered. 

Jack nodded, "Sounds good." 

"Okay, see you later Jack." 

"Take care, Sam." he said before hanging up.

Jack sat down at a bench nearby, "I'm sure Sam's smart enough to keep herself out of trouble, Sully on the other paw..." 

It wasn't that the deer was stupid, but he was prone to anxiety and sooner or later he could find himself in trouble with the law if they started to question him. 

Jack saw a poster promoting the ZPD with various officers displayed throughout, "Hmm, and what would you need this for? It's not like you have a PR problem..." 

Walking towards it to take a closer look he found both Officer Hopps and Wilde among the featured roster, "They seem the part, pff....I would look ridiculous in a police uniform." 

Despite that, he didn't forget wanting to be a 'secret agent' similar to the ones in the movies and also what Tyler believed the buck to be, "Those days are long gone. Now I am just...not like them." 

Jack placed in his paws in his pockets, " _What is it about them that makes so great? Is it the badge? The authority? Why would people even_ _like them?"_

At times Jack did feel a tinge of jealously seeing any figure that society deemed important, to command respect intrigued him, " _Would I gain the same respect if I was a police officer? It's not like I have anything special to offer..."_

It was a mantra that Jack found himself repeating to himself since he entered Zootopia years ago, " _I'm not special, I'm just another rabbit..."_

Jack didn't delude himself with thinking that he had some special purpose to seek out and accomplish, like any other rabbit he had his limits which he was reminded of by nearly being trampled by a rhino, "Hey! Watch where you're going!" 

The rhino looked down and snorted, "More like you should watch out for people like  _me,_ I could've made roadkill out of you." 

Jack fumed at the rhino's disregard for his safety, "For fox's sake you're just going walking around like you own the place? Someone could get hurt or even killed because of you!" 

"Who cares? There's thousands of bunnies like you hopping all over the place, who's going to miss you anyways?" the rhino spoke with disparagement.

The buck clenched his fists, "Those thousands of bunnies could easily kick your ass." 

"Ooh, I'm so scared, please help a rabbit army is trying to hurt me!" the rhino mocked.

Jack knew that cussing the rhino out wasn't going to do any harm to him, "You know what? Fine, be like that, I don't give a shit." 

The rhino smirked, "What's wrong? Is the tiny, _cute_ bunny going to cry?"

The buck's eye twitched as fury surged inside him, "Don't call me cute."

It became apparent that the rabbit wasn't joking around, "Whoa there, calm your tail, I was just teasing you-"

Jack stared daggers at him, "For our sakes I would quit while you're ahead before I do something stupid."

Despite the buck's small size, his venomous tone tipped off the rhino that he was pushing him too far, "Okay, I'll go away crazy asshole." 

The rabbit stood there and forced himself to calm down, " _I swear, one day I'm going to lose it...no Jack, don't overestimate yourself, just ignore them."_

Under normal circumstances Jack would be able to tolerate to some degree such insults or slurs directed towards him, but now with him feeling stressed he had less patience to deal with such things.

Then a thought popped up, " _Hmm, could anger be the answer?"_

He looked back towards the poster, specifically towards Nick, " _He was pretty friendly towards me before, maybe he'll listen to what I have to say. Problem is finding him in the first place."_

The only option he could think of was searching the entire district in hopes of spotting the fox officer who may not even be on patrol. 

Jack pondered on how to even talk to him, " _What would I even say to him_? 'Oh hey, did you know that your department is planning to raid someone's house and I need you to stop it?'  _He would probably become suspicious of me quick_."  

He sat back down on the bench, " _Hopefully it'll just be him and not also that Hopps too, it would make it much harder to talk just to him."_

Jack then realized, "Wait a minute...the ZPD might still be patrolling the bar I was in, there might be a chance Nick is there because he was also there the same night I was." 

He smiled to himself, "Must be careful though not to arouse his suspicions, he knows that he was chasing a rabbit after all." 


	9. Chilling Effect

Though it took a while for the buck to arrive back at the neighborhood the bar was located in, he was motivated to find Nick again. 

He arrived with no signs of police presence in the area to his discouragement, " _Damn, I was hoping he would be here by now."_

By now it was nearly the middle of the day and since he was in a formerly industrial district it was much warmer than back in downtown, "Guess I'm doing a stakeout...for the police." 

Jack knew that this was going to test his patience and he figured it would do him good to explore the area just to keep him from becoming too restless. 

Ordinarily in destitute parts of the city like the docks impoverished and homeless people would be roaming around, but even they weren't apparent in the area that Jack was in, even traffic was nearly non-existent with only the occasional car passing by. 

The buck was aware of his surroundings and knew that Nick was likely to question why Jack was over here in the first place, especially close to the bar where it was broken into just a few nights ago. 

There wasn't many places where the rabbit could shelter without arousing suspicion, " _I shouldn't get too close to the bar itself otherwise he might put two and two together."_

In the meanwhile he kept busy by playing around on his phone either surfing the web or calling Sam to check to see if anything happened.

"Did you or Sully see a fox police officer? Name's Nick Wilde." Jack asked his friend on the phone.

After a short while she replied back, " _Haven't heard or seen anyone like that, but I never heard of any fox officers before so it shouldn't be hard to spot him."_

"How about Officer Hopps?"Jack then asked.

" _Nope, but my mom told me she saw her neighbor's car being ticketed by a rabbit cop earlier this morning, so she was close to where my mom lives."_

Jack frowned, "Hmm, she was patrolling..." 

To him this suggested that Officer Hopps at least is assigned more towards street patrol activities, and by connection that means that Officer Wilde being partnered with her does similar tasks.

"Sam, if you ever see Hopps stay far away from her, we can't risk her coming up to you and asking you questions _."_

" _Should we be even talking about this stuff? Who knows if we're being spied on."_

Jack was skeptical of that idea, "I'm not an expert on law but if I remember correctly the government and the police can't spy on conservations unless they have a warrant, so we should be safe." 

" _Where are you anyways? At home?"_

"I'm um...by the docks." Jack admitted.

" _What? You mean where the bar was? Jack you could get caught being over there!"_ Sam yelled in exasperation.

The rabbit knew that she was going to give a negative response, "I know Sam, but I'm here because I...never mind." 

" _Tell me Jack, it's something really dumb I bet."_ Sam said already frustrated with the buck.

Jack sighed, "It is, I'm trying to find Officer Wilde and talk to him." 

" _Talk to him? About what?"_

"I don't know yet, I know this sounds like an utterly terrible idea but it's something I feel like I should try." Jack attempted to explain knowing that Sam was going to be against it anyways.

Sam groaned, " _Dude, I'm telling you right now you can't do this, aren't you worried that he'll figure you out?"_

"I'm well aware Sam, but I'm going to hedge my bets on this. Don't worry, I'll make sure to be very careful." 

_"Jack..."_

On the corner of his eye he spotted a patrol car driving into the block, "I'll have to call you back, I promise not to get into trouble alright?" 

" _I'm holding you to that, bye."_

"Take care." Jack told her before hanging up. 

The buck then hid behind some stairs leading up to an abandoned house and observed who was in the vehicle, " _Come on, let's see what's what..."_

The police cruiser pulled over across the street from the bar and indeed as Jack hoped Nick appeared from the driver's door, " _Jackpot, alright then, how to get his attention?"_

 _"Whew, my paws are roasting in this heat, don't get a stroke now Carrots because I'm not going solo."_ Nick spoke to someone in the car.

Jack frowned, "Carrots?"

A moment later the passenger door opened and revealed to his frustration Officer Hopps, " _Don't worry, I brought over plenty of water with us, my phone said it was going to be hot here today."_

" _I hate this kind of weather, cloudy but also steaming, I didn't think it was possible..."_ Nick lamented.

Jack was torn, it was very unlikely he was going to get such a chance to see Nick but with Judy with him it would complicated things greatly. 

"Fuck sake, how am I going to talk to just him alone?" Jack muttered to himself. 

The buck knew he was just going to have to take a risk, "Guess I'll just 'bump' into him." 

After prepping himself for anything to happen he walked out of his hiding spot and pretended to just be strolling through the area, " _Come on Nick, I'm right here."_

"So the chief said we need to patrol the parameter, two blocks at each direction from the bar." Judy instructed the fox.

"Aye aye, captain." Nick half-enthusiastically acknowledged with a salute. 

Judy readjusted her belt, "It won't be too bad at least we could...who's that?" 

The fox turned his attention to the passerby and smiled, "What do you know, it's Jack." 

The doe scratched her head, "Who's Jack?" 

"Just someone I met yesterday morning at my usual breakfast spot." Nick explained.

Jack felt a sharp uptick in anxiety not knowing how they were going to react to his presence, luckily for him Nick at least was in a friendly mood.

"Hey Jack!" he yelled out across the street.

The buck peered towards him and acted in mock surprise, "Nick?"

Nick waved him over, "Long time no see!"

Jack walked across the street in the least fretful way possible, "It's um...good to see you too." 

"It's nice to meet you Jack, name's Officer Judy Hopps." she said holding out her paw.

"Same." Jack simply replied shaking her paw. 

" _She seems nice enough, hopefully this means she won't be too intrusive with me talking to Nick."_

"So, what brings you here to this dump?" Nick asked.

His description earned a light punch to his arm, "Nick, don't call it that!" 

"But it is, have you actually  _looked_ around?" the fox said looking around.

"I was just walking around and must've taken a wrong turn somewhere, silly of me." Jack said trying to be friendly towards the fox.

Nick smirked, "Wrong turn huh? Glad to see you weren't mugged or murdered, would hate to do more paperwork."

Judy sighed, "Don't mind him, he...has a different sense of humor." 

"I don't mind at all, it's a good job I'm not a pelt being sold on the black market." Jack joked back.

Nick chuckled, "See Carrots, he knows what's up."

"May I ask what you're doing here as well?" Jack asked politely.

"We were just doing some rounds in the area, a few nights ago this bar was broken into and the suspect ran off, we still haven't actually found him yet." Judy said with some disappointment in her tone.

Jack took a look towards the building,"That over there? It's a bit run down isn't it?"  

"It is, but apparently it must hold some value to thieves so until this place gets knocked down we have to keep an eye out to make sure it doesn't get vandalized again." Judy explained.

Jack nodded, "Sounds reasonable, but this area's so dead I'm surprised it was broken into at all." 

The fox leaned on the car behind him, "You would think, but I guess some people just want to party regardless." 

Jack made his move, "You're not too busy at the moment are you?"

The two officers looked at each other and shook their heads, "Not right now."

"Sorry if I'm being a bother but since I myself don't have much to do, do you mind if we chatted for a bit?" Jack asked trying not to sound tense or desperate. 

Nick shrugged, "Eh, why not, you seem pretty cool...you're not spying on us right?"

"W-What? Of course not!" Jack said shaking a bit.

The fox frowned, "Cause if you were...nah, I'm just joking." 

Internally the buck felt some relief but outside he merely smiled, "Good one, you got me." 

"If you don't mind us Jack, Officer Wilde and I are going to start our patrols right now." she told him in a spiritedly manner. 

Jack didn't want to lose them but couldn't hold them back from doing their job, "I see, um..." 

"You can go ahead, I can chill with him for a few minutes." Nick told his partner.

The doe looked at him skeptically, "You sure?"

Nick winked, "I got my walkie-talkie, besides I know you'll be fine by yourself."

Judy nodded, "Okay, I'll be back in a little bit then." 

The doe began walking down the sidewalk with Jack waiting to make sure she was out of earshot. 

"So Nick, what exactly do you do as an officer anyways?" Jack asked.

"Just the usual, handing out parking tickets, helping old ladies, making sure the city doesn't burn down, that sort of stuff." Nick nonchalantly described. 

The buck looked down at the concrete sidewalk, "Must be a hard job." 

"Can be, but Judy and I make a pretty good team so it makes it a bit easier for us." 

"She does seem on top on things." Jack observed her enthusiastic behavior.  

"Well this is her dream job, she's been working for years to get here and she's enjoying every moment of it. Hell, she's so psyched about this job it even rubbed off on me a little." Nick admitted.

Jack thought on what he said, "So, how long you have been a police officer?"

"About to hit three months since I received my badge, honestly it felt much shorter than that, guess time flies when you're having fun eh?" 

Despite the fox's cool demeanor the buck could see that he was still a rookie, " _It hasn't been that long for him, he might not have gone in this direction too far yet."_

"Do you have fun doing this?" Jack questioned.

Nick for a moment seemed ambiguous in his answer, "Well...to me it matters more that the city doesn't suffer from crime, but it has its moments." 

"What did you do before you became an officer?" 

The fox chuckled, "Just the occasional side gigs, made some cool cash but eventually got busted by hers truly." 

"Busted? You were arrested by Hopps?" Jack said surprised that Nick's own partner detained him.

"Not arrested per se, more like if I didn't cooperate I would have to answer to the judge about my...questionable activities." 

Jack's eyes were wide open at Nick's explanation, "She blackmailed you?" 

"Blackmail's a strong word, more like she persuaded me to help her." 

"That doesn't sound legal in itself." the buck spoke out. 

Nick shrugged, "It's called a hustle, she happened to catch me in the act and the rest's history." 

At this point Jack was just flat out confused, "How did that lead you to becoming a cop?" 

The fox smiled awkwardly, " _Long_ story, could honestly make a movie out of it." 

Jack's ears picked up the sound of rapid, yet lithe impacts on the concrete, " _Come on, I was just starting to gain his trust."_

"Find anything fluff?" Nick asked the arriving doe.

"Nothing, there's hardly anyone here besides us." Judy reported. 

The fox groaned, "Well this sucks, we'll be stuck here all day with nothing to do." 

Jack was a little amused by Nick's conundrum, "Not an eventful day is it?"

Nick opened the car door and sat down in the driver's seat, "That's how it is being an officer, some days is just...bleh."  

"What are you doing? We're supposed to be keep patrol." Judy reprimanded the fox's return to the vehicle.

He reclined more into the seat, "According to the car it is...too hot outside for me, I'm going to stay inside this air-conditioned cocoon and observe from here." 

Jack walked up to the car window, "Mind if I join?"

Nick thought on it for a moment, "Well...assuming my partner here doesn't narc on us, you can sit beside me, you cool with that right Carrots?"

Judy didn't seemed too bothered by his suggestion, "Okay, he can stay with you in the car, it isn't too hot for me anyways." 

Jack entered inside the vehicle on the passenger side and sighed in relief feeling the cold air blow from the vents onto his face, "Oh yeah,  _much_ better." 

Nick looked towards his partner through the window, "Don't worry, I'll let you know if something comes up, you can trust me." 

She confidently nodded, "I know you will, I'll check the area again, okay?" 

Nick gave her a thumbs-up, "Make me proud." 

As soon as she left the fox fished out his phone from his pocket, "So Jack, what do you do for work anyways?"

Jack knew right now was the perfect opportunity to gain Nick's trust, "Just marketing, basically making advertisements and helping spread the word of any product a company tells us to do." 

The fox glanced over at Jack, "Really? Has the ZPD ever asked your company to do ads for them?" 

The buck shook his head, "Not that I heard of, I'd said our company is mid-sized, big enough to get companies to hire us but still not big enough to find work from Zootopia's bigger corporations and the government." 

"Does it pay well?" 

"Not especially, but it's workable." 

The fox yawned and stretched out, "Damn, I've been up since 5 in the morning, I had to go to some kind of seminar about working with emergency services." 

Jack cringed at the thought of waking very early for work, "Sounds fun." 

"Nothing coffee couldn't solve, plus if it helps me become a better police officer then I'm not too mad about it." 

Inside Jack was glad that Nick was a very approachable person otherwise he guessed he would've already felt uncomfortable being inside a cop car, "If you don't mind me asking, what made you become an officer?"

Nick tapped the steering wheel, "I guess a couple of things, one was I wanted to be a better person, someone other foxes could look up to and not feel worthless to society. Another was Judy, she showed me that I was not just a petty criminal or a dirty fox but someone who could be something." 

Jack couldn't see how Judy convinced Nick to join the forces, "Wait, but you said that she held evidence against you that could've made you go to jail. How did she convince you to become a cop?" 

"If it wasn't obvious to you just before, she's a real bundle of energy and always wants to help other people, again, it kind of rubbed off on me." 

Seeing Nick being so friendly towards him while also remembering him tackling Ray to the ground made him feel a sort of outrage underneath but he fought to contain himself, "You guys must really be committed to this job." 

"She's definitely higher on the enthusiasm level than I am, but I share those same feelings of helping fight crime and protecting the citizens of this city." Nick resolutely confirmed to the the buck.

" _Damn, he really is committed to this. I don't he could be convinced out of this."_

The buck wasn't ready to give up just yet and wanted to probe further into Nick's feelings on the matter, "You said, you want to protect the citizens?"

Nick nodded, "Yeah, that's what I chosen to follow." 

"Do people ever treat you differently for being a fox?" Jack then asked seeing if him being an officer changed his image.

"Before of course, but now they seem more trusting of me in general when I'm in my uniform." 

"What about when you're out of uniform? Is it the same?"

For a split second it appeared that he frowned but went away back into a general relaxed expression, "Sometimes I'm reminded people still hold prejudices against my species, even in uniform, but I do feel that in the past few months it's gotten a little better." 

Jack felt a small amount of sympathy for Nick, "Must be tough either way, to go through all the training to join the ZPD but still run into the same negative thinking." 

Nick smiled, "It's alright, I've dealt with worse for many years, now I'm just looking ahead, trying to make life in this city just that little bit better." 

" _He's strong, I'll give him that, I don't think I could do the same things he did."_

The fox noticed Jack's dejected expression, "You okay?"

Jack's anger continued to grow inside him but not of the burning variety, "To tell you the truth, hearing you standing up for your dreams and ideas like that makes me feel like I'm weaker than I should be." 

Nick felt concerned with his response, "How?" 

He shook his head, "I don't know, I just don't have the strength you have to go my own way, sometimes I feel like there's many things out of my control." 

"If you want to talk about it I'm okay with it, not like I have much else to do today." Nick offered. 

"No, this is something that I have to work out myself, no offense." 

"None taken, but I do have to say that it doesn't sound healthy to deal with on your own." Nick told him still concerned. 

Jack saw a little humor out of this, "You have a point, but I'm not exactly the healthiest bunny around." 

"After talking with you for a bit I just realized, you're British aren't you?" 

Seeing as Nick realized just now the buck's nationality made Jack feel a bit awkward, "I am a Brit, yes." 

The fox tapped his chin, "Never met a British rabbit before, only one I've seen on TV before was-" 

"Please don't mention Peter Rabbit." Jack cut in trying not to cringe.

"Why? Is he a sore point over there?" Nick said with a mischievous expression on his face.

Jack's ears fell in embarrassment, "He just creates an image that British rabbits are...plucky." 

"You seem to lack that distinction." Nick flatly observed. 

"Trust me, thousands of years of crushing British weather, pessimism, and war made even the most sprightly species become the kind of always half-disappointed, slightly pissed off Brit the world knows today." Jack briefly described to the fox.

Nick winced at Jack's description, "Ouch, is that why you're here then? To escape that?" 

The buck looked down, "Sort of, Zootopia seems an alright place, but perhaps one day I'll return back to my homeland." 

"Despite the problems this city has, I still think it has its merits." 

 _"I think I got something."_ Judy's voice buzzed through the CB radio. 

Nick picked up the handheld radio, "Roger that, where are you right now?" 

" _In the alley by the bar, I think I found some evidence to who did it."_

Jack's blood chilled at the information, " _Oh fuck me..."_

"Copy that, I'll be there." Nick said before putting the radio back and exiting the car.

Jack gulped, "Do you really think she found something?"

Nick straightened out his uniform,  "She's got a sharp eye, if she said she saw something then it's something I'm definitely interested in, come on."

The buck knew following him could risk him being found out, but refusing to do so could also arouse suspicion, "Okay."

Jack followed closely behind the fox down towards the alleyway where previously he led them through a chase, with each step closer to the location he could feel his brain yelling at him to run away. 

"Whatcha got?" Nick spoke out to Judy who was kneeling on the ground.

"Look, there's a little blood on this piece of glass from the bottle." Judy pointed out.

Jack knew better than to interfere with their investigation and remained silent. 

"Hmm, how do we know it not just ours?" Nick asked skeptically. 

Judy stared at it intently, "It's just a feeling, do we have the plastic bags in the car?"

"I'll get them, stay here Jack." Nick instructed the buck.

Jack decided it would be best to follow their instructions, "Alright."

"So Jack, how's your day been?" Judy asked still examining the bloodied shard of glass.

The buck felt unsure being around her, "Fine." 

She made eye contact with him, "Nick seems to have taking a liking to you huh?" 

"He is quite chummy." 

She frowned at the broken glass on the floor, "Someone could get really hurt from stepping on this, already there's this mess to deal with, but I guess it might also give us a lead." 

Jack wished for the fox to hurry up, " _Hopefully it's not mine, I don't remember bleeding from my foot though."_

He would check for any scarring but he was worried that she would seem him doing so, "I'm guessing you're going to take it back to the station?"

"Right, we are taking it to the lab to see if any results come up that we can use." she explained.

Shortly after Nick returned with a plastic bag, tweezers, and a marker, "Alright, let's bag it up and head back to the precinct." 

"So you two are heading out now right?" Jack asked the officers.

Nick nodded, "Yup, hopefully this piece of evidence can help put this case to rest and we won't have to be doing this awful stakeout thing." 

"Honestly, I rather be back in downtown where there's more stuff to do." Judy chimed in.

Jack knew that if the blood was his and they figure it out, it wouldn't take them too long before they find and cuff him, "You know, I better should go too, starting to feel peckish." 

The fox agreed with his sentiment, "I feel that, I also need to put some food in my stomach before I faint." 

Judy chuckled at Nick's complaint, "It was nice meeting you Jack, hopefully we'll see each other again."

Jack tried to look interested, "Same, it was nice to meet you too." 

"Yeah, it was nice talking with you, here's my number if you want to hang out or something." Nick offered to him.

Jack knew that he was giving his number to a cop, but he also figured if they wanted it in the first place they could search it up, "Yeah, that'll be good." 

After exchanging numbers and final goodbyes, Jack watched as the two officers drove off leaving him alone in the empty neighborhood, " _That could've gone better. But, I do have Nick's number now, time to discuss this with Ray."_


	10. Packing it Up

With some luck, Jack was hoping before that him, Yvonne, and Ray could devise some sort of plan to 'convince' Nick to change course on breaching Ray's associate's house. However after getting to know the fox a little better it was now obvious that as easygoing and even snarky he may be, Nick was still dedicated towards his job and no amount of pleading would sway him. He couldn't comment much on Officer Hopps besides being  _very_ committed to her job, any negative talk of police work would most likely not go well with her. 

After being out in the sweltering heat of the docks Jack felt already out of breath and was struggling to simply keep pace on the sidewalk, however knowing it was now midday hailing a taxi cab would be expensive and bus routes were scarce as they were. 

" _Okay...I'm well out of the way to my home and it's hotter than balls right now, fuck."_

He guessed it would at least be a hour of walking before he made it back home, and he didn't have the energy to make such a long trek, " _This was a stupid idea, I should've just went straight home from Amar's._ "

His thirst continued to grow ever more intense and soon enough he couldn't withstand such a burning sensation in his throat, "There has to be a store, something." 

In his daze he vaguely remembered that Ray's apartment was nearby somewhere but he failed to conjure up the directions he took being chased by the police before, " _My phone..."_

He turned the device on and opened the maps app, " _Let's see here...what the...that doesn't seem right."_

The phone indicated he was right at the edge of Sahara Square, but ahead there was just ocean, "Is my phone broken?" 

He spun around trying to see if the app would follow him but it failing to do so further concerned Jack, " _Okay, maybe it's just me but this is really strange."_

In the distance Jack could hear faint rattling which shot up his anxiety, " _I'm dead aren't I? This is where the killer hunts me down and eats me."_

He begged for Nick and Judy to return in their patrol vehicle to protect him but no rescue ever came, just the rabbit and whatever threatened him. 

Jack gulped and for a moment was ready to dial emergency services but at the same time he didn't want to suffer the humiliation of having the police protect him from an imagined threat.

" _Come on Jack, it's just your imagination, just keep walking..."_ urging himself to act. 

Continuing down his path he tried to assuage his fears by thinking about what to eat when he got back to familiar territory, however his subconscious was running amok with fear as primal motivations from underneath his 'civilized' manners threatened to erupt and throw his entire thinking process into panic mode. 

" _Please, if anyone is listening, let me live and I promise to do something good in return."_ Jack silently muttered to himself. 

He dared to peek behind him for any danger and saw again there was no one in sight, but it failed to give him relief. 

What caught his attention however was light, thought existent traffic several blocks down, " _Please tell me there's other people there."_

Mustering up his remaining strength he started jogging towards the other cars, "Just...a...little...closer..." 

As he was about to give out a miracle appeared on the corner, " _Is that?"_

He dashed towards it, "A vending machine!" 

He gave it a hug, "Finally!"

He retrieved his wallet and pulled out his credit card, "And all I have to do is...oh shit..." 

The credit card reader was much too high for the buck to even attempt to make a leap for it, clearly the machine was designed for much taller mammals than a rabbit like him to his frustration. 

In desperation for a drink the buck made several jumps for the reader but failed each time, leaving him to only curse loudly, "Fuck! You stupid argh!" 

This particular moment of failure served as a painful reminder that Jack's size still ultimately worked against him, that in certain situations he was still just a puny, pathetic rabbit that couldn't do as he pleased in the city.

Jack glared at the drinks offered inside, " _No. I'm getting that fucking drink."_

He grabbed a discarded cardboard box and after making sure it was strong enough to hold his weight he carefully climbed on top of it and raised his arm as high as he could to reach the reader, "Come on..."

Jack took the risk and made a small jump and managed to slide the card inside the reader with the little screen above it confirming that it was read, " _Ha, I did it."_

He punched in the code and out came an ice cold water bottle, "Victory is mine!" 

"Dude calm down, it's just water." 

Jack was startled to see a zebra staring at him with both confusion and amusement, "Yeah, of course it is." 

The zebra sighed and continued on, "Crazy bunny..." 

Disregarding the zebra's disbelief he untwisted the cap and taking several gulps he instantly felt refreshed, "Right, onward then."   

Armed with a cold bottle of water Jack's motivation was renewed and he made the decision to confer with Ray and Yvonne on what to do next.

He sent a quick text to the ferret, " _I bumped into_ _Officer Wilde, want to talk to you about it."_

It wasn't long before he received a reply, " _Meet me at the farmer's market_." 

Jack squinted at the location, "Farmer's market? Which  _one?_ "

As far as to Jack's knowledge there were easily at least several going on at any point of the week, but his question was answered, " _The one by the Amazon Adventure Park."_

Thankfully for him the amusement park wasn't far from his current location and with new knowledge of Nick and Judy he was eager to share it with the ferret. 

* * *

 

After roughly ten minutes of walking Jack finally arrived at the farmer's market which was overshadowed by the amusement park's various rides looming just behind.

The market itself was lively which made the buck confused as to why Ray wanted to meet him here in the first place especially with the information being discussed. 

Jack searched the location for any sign of the ferret but with no such lock he then texted Ray, " _I'm here, where are you?"_

His phone buzzed immediately after, " _I'm with Yvonne, we're at a flower stall."_

The rabbit sighed, "Great, that was helpful."

Jack began walking down the path right in the middle of the market and while keeping an eye out for Ray he also took interest in the various goods on offer beyond just food, including jewelry, clothing, and even electronics. It surprised him to see such a variety being sold in a so-called farmer's market but Jack could also see why Ray and Yvonne came here. 

However despite with all the displays Jack quickly grew frustrated and decided to just call the ferret, "Come on...Ray? Where the hell are you?" 

" _You're having trouble finding us?"_

"Well of course I am, I don't see either of you anywhere!" Jack spoke with agitation. 

" _Where are you then?"_

The buck's ears went down as he noticed that he was lost in the vast maze, "Um...good question actually, I've no idea." 

" _Heh, lucky for you, you're the only rabbit with stripes on your face, just hold on alright?"_

Jack fretted but decided it would be better to let Ray scout him out, "Right, I'll stay put." 

He hung up and turned to take a closer look at one of the stalls that sold foreign looking clothing. 

Jack saw that the people selling them were an elderly jaguar couple, "Hello, these look really nice." 

"We made these ourselves, well...us and our son." The female jaguar admitted with a chuckle.

The male jaguar smiled, "What's your name?" 

"Jack Savage."

"Jack eh? Well, I'm Manuel and this is Sophia." Manuel introduced themselves.

Jack grabbed what appeared to be a dress shirt and white straw hat for someone his size, "You don't mind me asking where these are from?" 

Manuel picked up a larger hat and placed it on his head, "This is what people wore in Brazil from the old days." 

"Brazil eh? I don't know much about that place except for the um...dancers." Jack sheepishly said to them. 

They both laughed, "Oh we know, that's probably the most well-known thing about our homeland, but it's just part of our culture so we understand." 

Jack felt at ease seeing them take it in stride, "I'm glad to hear that, how much is this anyways?"

"The hat is 13 zollars, and the shirt is 20." Sofia said.

The buck was surprised at how cheap the attire was, "Is that it?"

"Try it on." Manuel suggested.

Jack shrugged and donned it on his head, "Hmm, it fits nicely but it is a bit itchy." 

Manuel tipped his head to him, "You'll get used to it, when I was young I wore hats like that all day." 

"Do you have a mirror?" Jack asked them.

Sofia grabbed a small one from underneath the counter, "You look very handsome in that hat." 

Jack grabbed the mirror and took a look at himself, with the hat he did look more mature and even timeless in a way, "Wow, you're right. I didn't think it would fit me like that." 

The rabbit smiled, "I'll take it, do you accept cards?"

Sofia grabbed a tablet, "Of course, they released new ones that scans them now." 

Jack stared at the tablet with amazement, "Whoa, you know how to use those?" 

Sofia nodded, "I took a few classes on how to use these, makes doing business so much easier." 

Jack handed them his card and after she scanned it along with a few buttons presses she grabbed the tablet to him, "Sign on the bottom please." 

Jack used his finger to scrawl a basic signature and gave it back in exchange for his card, "Crazy what they are coming up with isn't it?" 

Manuel reclined in his chair, "Even at our old age we like to try to keep up if it makes our lives easier." 

"Oh, and where's the receipt-" 

"E-mailed to you." Sofia promptly answered.

At first Jack was confused but then remembered connecting his email account to his card, "Brilliant, helps to cut waste right?"

"It's nice not to worry about paper yes, it was nice talking to you Jack. Enjoy your new hat!" Manuel said to the buck before going to help another customer.

Jack smiled and applied the hat again, "Thank you, same for you two." 

After a while Jack was finally found by Ray, " _Jack!"_

The buck turned to see the ferret and bat couple approach him, "Good to see you again Ray." 

Ray smiled, "Sorry about this, I was getting some flowers for this special lady." 

Jack could see Yvonne carrying a bouquet of blue flowers, "They do look lovely." 

The bat coyly smiled, "Thanks, they are beautiful." 

"I like your sunglasses too, they're really dark though." Jack said being unable to see her eyes.

"I need them when it's light out, otherwise my eyes start to hurt fast." she told the buck. 

Jack understood her need for them, "Oh right, bats are really sensitive to light aren't they?"  

Ray nuzzled his cheek to hers, "It's just how her species is, but that doesn't stop her enjoying the outdoors, by the way, nice hat." 

Jack adjusted the hat a little, "Thanks, anyways should we move somewhere else then to talk?"

Yvonne nodded, "Yes, we shouldn't let others hear about this." 

The three left the market and Ray led them to an alleyway to keep them out of sight, "So...you met them?" 

"Yeah, both Officer Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps." Jack confirmed. 

The ferret whistled, "Must've been intense."

"You would think but actually Nick's been quite friendly with me, and I guess the same with Judy." 

Ray smirked, "Probably would've been different if they figured out who you really were." 

Jack crossed his arms, "If that was the case I wouldn't be here in the first place." 

"Did you happen to get anything out of them?" Yvonne asked.

He shook his head, "Not really, I just saw that they both were dedicated to their job." 

The ferret was a little disappointed, "That's too bad, we could've at least tried to convince Nick to do something." 

"We should just to get your friend out of his house at soon as possible then." Jack suggested.

Ray looked tense at the thought, "Yeah, not the best option but its better than possibly something bad happening to him and his family." 

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to convince Nick, if only I tried harder." Jack lamented.

Ray patted Jack's shoulder, "Don't beat yourself up over it, you did the best you could, cops are notorious for being stubborn about their profession. What matters is that you're safe." 

"Shall I start making the calls?" Yvonne asked the ferret.

He nodded, "Yeah, as hard as it's going to be, we need to move Frederick's stuff out of his place before the cops find out about our operations." 

"I'll help then." Jack quickly volunteered. 

Ray smiled, "I kind of figured you would, his place is a bit far, but I'll arrange us a car to drive there." 

* * *

Later in the day after Ray picked up a truck from a rental agency the three made the long drive to his friend's house. 

At first Jack wondered if they were even within city limits anymore, since the density gradually decreased as they continued onward, soon there were only the occasional house and otherwise forest alongside the road.

The buck did enjoy the fresh, cool forest air that blew through the back window, "You know, after being in the city for so many years, I've almost forgot what fresh air feels like." 

Ray, who was driving, agreed with the rabbit's sentiment, "It's nice isn't it? Maybe one day Yvonne and I will build ourselves a little home out here, just to enjoy nature." 

As tempting as it was for Jack to contemplate such a move he knew that a little rabbit like him who grew up in the city all his life would quickly struggle with the change, "I think I would just stick to visiting. Also sorry to be a bother but are we almost there yet?" 

"Just a bit farther." Ray affirmed. 

"Do you think his things will fit in the back?" Jack then asked staring out the back. 

"Hopefully enough, he's got an SUV though so the rest we'll just stuff in there...oh crap." 

Jack heard the troubled tone in Ray's voice, "What's up?"

The ferret muttered to Yvonne, "I forgot, Fred isn't a fan of...them."

"He'll have to live with it." she flatly replied.

Jack was now confused, "Not a fan of what?"

Ray pinched the bridge of his nose, "Um...of rabbits."

The buck was taken aback, "What? Why?" 

"I don't really know, he's not a lover of many species to be honest." he admitted.

"He learns to tolerate others when you are willing to be patient, but for rabbits like you, it will be difficult I'm afraid." Yvonne informed Jack.

"So, I'm going to help someone who doesn't like me because of what I am..." Jack sarcastically noted. 

"Fred's a reasonable guy, but yeah, you'll need to be patient." Ray told him.

Jack groaned, " _Great, testing my patience never ends well_." 

Ray turned down a gravel road and after another minute they finally arrived, "Here we be." 

The rabbit had to admit the house was a lot bigger then he was expecting, the huge lawn and the forest surrounding it reminded Jack of the old manors back in England, "We have to move everything from there?"

Ray shook his head, "Just his office and his basement. It'll take two shakes." 

Jack's tail subconsciously shook with that statement, "Hopefully there's not that many heavy items."

"Think of it as some good exercise." 

The ferret parked the truck right beside a large, red SUV, "Stay here, I'm going to talk to him." 

Jack squirmed in his seat, "Didn't you call to let him know we're coming?" 

"I did, I told him we need to do this now." 

Jack frowned, "Before we do this, are you sure this is the right thing to do?" 

"We decided while you were gone to go ahead with this." Ray said.

"What made you believe that?"

"Remember when we said that we had word that his house was being raided? Turns out...it's tomorrow." Yvonne said.

Jack froze in place, "Shit, who told you this?" 

"Turns out when an officer gets bored they engage in small talk with their partners." Ray said smiling. 

The rabbit then watched as the ferret walked up to the front door and knocked, " _Let's see who this Fred is."_

The door inched open but Jack wasn't able to see what Frederick was, adding to his anxiety, "Yvonne, mind shedding some light on what this family is?"

"You'll see soon enough, just wait for Ray to give the thumbs up." 

Ray shook his paw with the unseen person and nodded towards Jack and Yvonne, "Alright, let's do this quickly." 

Jack and Yvonne hopped out of the truck and joined alongside Ray, "I told him about you Jack, he's going to leave aside any...misgivings for now." 

The buck frowned, "Uh-huh, we'll see if he will hold onto that." 

The door swung fully open revealing a rather scrawny reddish bronze llama, "I told my wife you were coming, they're staying at a hotel waiting for me, let's make this quick before the ZPD finds anything." 

Frederick quickly glanced at Jack with silent indifference, "I'm less concerned about what happens to my house, and more what they can find."

Ray sighed, "I'm really sorry I couldn't find a way to stop them." 

"It is what it is, that's the life we chose." Frederick merely stated looking a little saddened. 

"One day we won't have to hide in the shadows." Yvonne said offering hope. 

The llama clapped his paws together, "We'll start at my office, it's just upstairs." 

Jack followed behind the three observing the unfamiliar home, what immediately struck him was how much larger it was compared to Amar's, and how much older everything was. There was little evidence that children even lived within as everything was in near immaculate condition and appeared to be quite valuable. If he was a burglar Jack was certain just a few of these decorations would be enough to live off for quite a while.

Frederick unlocked the door on his left, "Here's my office, essentially all the important information is stored in these boxes, the computer and these external drives." 

Ray grabbed one of the smaller boxes, "Good, a clean sweep should be enough." 

Despite Yvonne's warning about his distrust towards rabbits, Jack nonetheless assisted with the moving of crucial information away from potential danger. 

"So, what is it you want?" The llama suddenly asked Jack.

The buck frowned at him, "Huh?"

"You came here to help me, you want something." Frederick said with his own suspicious frown. 

"I came here because your family would be in danger, that's what Ray told me anyways, that's why I'm helping." Jack stated his motive. 

Frederick didn't seem entirely convinced, "That's what  _he_ said you were doing, but I'm keeping an eye on you." 

Jack watched in disbelief as the llama grabbed his laptop and left the room, "What's wrong with him? Is he really like that towards all rabbits?"

Ray shifting through papers in a binder nodded, "Yep, long story short he lived in a town full of them when he was little and was bullied the entire time, he's...let's say cynical."

"A town of rabbits? Um, what's that place called..." Jack muttered trying to recall the infamous location.

"Yeah, Fred's gone out of his way not to talk to your species, basically more a grudge than actual prejudice." 

Jack sighed, "Is that so?"

"Again, he's a reasonable guy, he's not going to antagonize you straight away, but he's going to kind of cautious."

The ferret glanced closely at one of the papers, "Hey honey, isn't this the invoice for...you know?"

She joined alongside him and squinted, "It is, best to burn this."

Jack's ears raised in interest, "Invoice for what?"

The ferret folded it up and placed it in his pocket, "Nothing important, help me with the maps would you?"

"Sure..." Jack said still interested in the invoice. 

After about an half hour the office was completely empty save for a note that Frederick chose to leave behind for the ZPD, however since it was out of reach for Jack it was up to his imagination in what it might have said. By then, the truck's bed was halfway full. 

"Whew, I'm beat, you got any beer or something?" Ray asked Frederick lying down on the truck bed.

"I only have water." The llama said placing the last box from the office in the bed.

Ray stretched his limbs fully out, "Damn, oh well, better than nothing."  

"You shouldn't even drink beer, you're the one driving aren't you?" Jack pointed out. 

The ferret winked at him, "One wouldn't do anything, now if we're talking a case..."

"Let's save that for after we finish." Jack suggested with a smile.

Ray stared up at the bright blue sky, "I should keep this truck for the night, Yvonne and I could camp under the stars." 

Yvonne laid beside him resting her head on his shoulder, "I do prefer the night sky." 

"You two need a moment?" Jack half-sarcastically questioned the couple.

The ferret shook his head, "Sorry, got a little carried away, let's get the basement cleaned up and then we'll go." 

Jack had some trouble breathing down at the musky basement where it was obvious that what was contained inside hasn't been moved for years, "Does everything here have to go?"

"Not everything, I'll point out what needs to leave." Frederick told the three as they walked down the stairs. 

What struck Jack was the abundance of old posters that were in various languages, what they seemed to have in common was very striking art that suggested an almost authoritative impression, even with the language barrier Jack could see that the posters suggested action of some kind.

"Do you know anything about these posters?" Jack asked the llama.

Frederick looked towards the one Jack was pointing towards, "This was created by a group of college students who wanted equal rights for predator species, not in Zootopia but in I believe France." 

Jack stared at the words, "Really? The only words I can make out is unity and freedom." 

"You speak French?" The llama asked a little surprised.

Jack waved his paws to deny any real ability, "Just a word here and there, I wasn't really paying attention in French class to be honest." 

Ray chuckled, "Really? Let me hear it."

The buck cringed, "Uh... _bonjour, je suis Jack,_ oh let's see here... _je viens de Londres._ I can't really say anymore than that I'm afraid." 

"Even in French I can still tell you're British, but it didn't sound bad." The ferret commented.

The rabbit shrugged, "My brother gives me absolute hell about it, but then again he's married to a French doe and lives in France with her and their children." 

"We all got our own skills, you're just different, that's all." 

Jack saw there were a few posters in French, all with the same general message and it gave him an idea where their aspirations came from. 

The basement was quite large, at the end he saw a door, " _I wonder if there's anything in there."_

He didn't want to draw Frederick's ire by asking so he decided to risk a quick sneak peek, " _And what's behind door number one?"_

After making sure he was out of sight of the other three he twisted the knob slightly, and revealing itself to be unlocked he cracked open the door, " _Hmm, it's too dark, I'll have to use my phone."_

Jack turned on the flash of his camera and waved the light around, " _W_ _hat's this?"_

At the corner there was an old wooden crate, Jack walked towards it and instinctively took a sniff at it, with it his nose detected a metallic whiff to it, " _Weird, should I try to open it?"_

His curiosity won the day and he grabbed the edges of the lid and try to lift it off but with no luck, " _Wow this is nailed shut, maybe if I pry it off?"_

He found a hammer on a shelf on top of the box and using the claw he stuck it between the lid and the box and attempted to pull the lid off, " _Come on! I definitely need to work out more, whew..."_

He grunted and after applying enough pressure the lid popped just slightly, with it Jack set aside the hammer and used his paws to remove it entirely. 

After successfully removing it he found something he didn't expect, " _Are these_?"

Inside the box there was a ZPD badge that was very worn and had what appeared to be blue ink on it, beside it was a picture of a llama wearing the old ZPD uniform bearing some resemblance to Frederick but obviously wasn't due to the age of the photo.

Jack smirked, " _I'm guessing your father was part of the ZPD? Naughty boy to rebel against your family like that."_

There wasn't much else inside the crate which to Jack was strange considering all it contained was the police paraphernalia and the picture, but he speculated that Frederick didn't want such things to be seen by others. 

Then at the corner of his eye a flash appeared, turning his attention to this glint he saw that it was a piece of chromed metal, "Is this...ooh, a rifle?" 

Jack struggled to pick up the weapon, despite not knowing if it was loaded or not he was compelled to inspect the object.

" _Could do some major damage with this, maybe he likes to collect these things?"_ Jack mused.

As far as he knew, such weapons were definitely illegal within the city itself, but out here it wasn't known to him if the llama could hold such an object. 

"I'll just leave this here." Jack told himself setting the rifle back in place.

" _No wonder Ray wanted this place to be cleared out, just these alone is enough to be thrown in jail."_

The buck wasn't sure if Frederick was the sort to use guns to 'solve' problems, but knowing how him, Ray, and Yvonne think of the ZPD and the city government in general it was safe to assume that they took these things seriously. 

" _I'm really in it now it seems like, I know for sure my friends and family wouldn't approve of all this."_

However Jack wasn't going to call it quits, he was still determined to help out the cause even if things may get rough. 


	11. Mighty Struggle

Jack yawned loudly as Ray drove him and Yvonne back to a what he believed was a safe area for the things they have retrieved from Frederick's house, "So, how far is this place we're supposed to be at anyways?"

"It'll be a while, take a nap, I know I would after doing all that heavy lifting." Ray told the buck.

The buck admitted that the air conditioning blowing cool air into his face made him very drowsy, "Good idea, wake me up when we get there..."

He closed his eyes and soon enough he was out cold from fatigue.

* * *

"Wakey-wakey." 

Jack snorted as he suddenly awakened from his slumber, "Bloody hell, we're already there Ray? Thought you said it was going to be a while-"

As his vision came into focus he saw a smiling Nick standing right outside the opened car door, "Finally found you."

The buck gasped and squirmed around in his seat as he was still buckled to it, "Nick? Shit, how'd you find us, don't you hurt either of them, they're innocent!" 

The officer loomed over him, "I just needed you, your friends aren't here to save you this time." 

Jack quickly scanned his surrounding and saw only desert, "This isn't right, I was just at the forest earlier!" 

The fox's grin revealed his sharp teeth, "It's all in your imagination Jackie boy, just remember that we're always watching you." 

"There's no possible way to always be watching where I'm going." Jack shot back.

"Mmm, try me, you're not as clever as your  _cute_ head thinks." Nick emphasized the slur aimed towards his species.

"Don't call me cute you...you-"

Nick brandished his gun, "Shh, don't get too ahead of yourself dumb bunny, otherwise I'll be having rabbit stew tonight." 

Jack gulped, "I'm not going to be silenced." 

The fox seemed momentarily surprised then his smile returned, "Sorry, but you don't hold that power."

Nick then turned around and disappeared from view, leaving Jack to sit there as his surroundings blurred. 

* * *

 "...I think he'll be useful for us soon...oh hey Jack, how was your little nap?" Ray asked noticing the buck waking up.

"It...was fine I guess." Jack replied pretending to be well-rested.

"Good, we're just about to arrive. Since it'll be much easier to move the boxes in the place we'll just drop them off and I'll drive you back home." Ray told him.

Jack nodded, "Sounds good, I'm going to definitely hide in my bed for the rest of the day after this." 

"We'll just follow Fred down here." 

Jack saw it was an old mechanic garage that seemed to have fallen into disuse, "I mean...it's something? I don't think it looks particularly secure to be honest."

"The garage itself may have been abandoned but as you can see this is an isolated spot that very few people come through, especially the police." Yvonne explained.

"Uh-huh. You know, this place doesn't look at all like Zootopia." Jack observed after exiting the truck.

"Welcome to the rest of the country, Zootopia's the biggest city in the world, and well, the rest is just this outside the big cities." Ray added.

"How far exactly are we from the city?" the buck asked feeling a little out of place. 

The ferret shrugged, "Give or take about two hours." 

"Two hours? Fucking hell, this is the farthest I've been away." Jack said.

Ray smirked at him, "You've never traveled inland?" 

"Not  _this_ far, I've honestly never left the city except for flying to Detrout." 

The ferret was entertained by that tidbit, "Wait really? What was going on there?" 

"A business convention thing for my company couple of months ago, nothing too exciting but I did happen to see a hockey game so that's something I guess." 

Frederick met up with them, "Again, thank you for helping me get all of this here."

The ferret winked, "It's nothing, it was crucial the ZPD didn't find these files, for now we can rest easy." 

"Okay, let's get the boxes inside and get this fella back home, I'm sure you're itching to get out after all this huh?" Ray asked Jack jabbing his arm. 

The rabbit was slightly annoyed but still nodded, "I'm about done for the day, or the week."

"You should hit up the gym then if you're feeling like that, gotta gain the muscles for these things like me." Ray told him flexing his arms.

Jack raised his eyebrow, "You're barely any more muscular than me." 

Ray was amused, "Oh yeah?"

Jack rolled up his sleeve and flexed alongside the ferret, "See? About the same."

"We shouldn't be wasting time like this Ray." Yvonne spoke out. 

"It'll be just a minute sweetie, okay then Jack, wanna bet who's stronger with arm wrestling?" 

Normally Jack wouldn't be so eager to answer such requests but after his previous 'dream' he felt determined to show some strength, "It'll be my pleasure." 

The ferret placed a small box on the ground and knelt down with Jack linking arms, "Fred, can you be the referee for us?" 

Frederick was a little confused but decided to go with it, "Um...sure." 

Yvonne sat down next to Ray, "I don't know why you're doing this, you don't have to prove anything to me." 

"It's not  _you_ I'm worried about, I sense something in Jack that's holding him back." Ray spoke his thoughts aloud.

Jack frowned, "What?"

"I can see the way you act that there's something bothering you, we may have only known each other for a few days but even then I can tell you're doubting yourself." Ray explained. 

The buck sighed, "I'm that transparent aren't I?"

"It's okay Jack, I know that all this stuff is still new to you and you need time to adjust." 

Jack was unsure how to make of his statement, "I need time? How long exactly?"

"Depends entirely on you, anyways show me what you're made of." Ray said tightening his grip around Jack's paw.

The buck tensed himself, "Bring it." 

Frederick covered both their paws, "Three, two, one, go!" 

The two immediately applied their full force into their arms, both grunting as they fought for arm wrestling supremacy.

Jack gritted his teeth, " _This is harder than I thought it would be, he's stronger than he looks."_

Despite that the two were neck and neck at nearly the same position as they started in, "Give it up Jackie boy!"

The rabbit's eye twitched at being called 'Jackie boy', "Nnh...fuck off!"

"This is closer than I was expecting, the rabbit's got some muscle." Frederick admitted watching carefully.

"I have to admit you are tough...for a bunny." Ray taunted.

Jack felt a surge of energy hearing the ferret say those words, "I'm not just a bunny..."

He then began pushing Ray's paw towards the box, "I'm...Jack Savage!"

Ray was in shock feeling his paw touch the box, "Shit, I get it, you _are_ strong."

Jack huffed, "You're damn right I am, and don't go thinking I'm just some little rabbit to pick on either!" 

Ray grinned, "I love it! There's the fire I was looking for!"

"Are you satisfied? Can we put away our things now?" Yvonne suggested.

"Yeah, I think I'm good now." The ferret said grabbing the box used for arm wrestling. 

Jack felt some soreness from his arm, "So, what did you think?"

"Again, you're strong but I would start working out, not only would you become more useful but you'll gain respect too." the ferret recommended.

The buck rolled his eyes, "Thanks for the advice, Captain Obvious." 

"Hey, I'm just saying. Anyways, Fred, you cool if I take him back to his place?" 

"Fine by me, I can handle the rest." Fred said lifting the last boxes off the bed of the truck. 

"Sweet, you hungry Jack?" Ray then asked as the three hopped back in the truck. 

Jack rubbed his stomach, "I could eat."

"Great, uh...Yvonne, you know a place?" 

The bat stared at him for a moment, "...no."

Jack looked around and saw the only other building within sight was a convenience store, "I'm just going to buy a bag of chips or something."

"Yeah, maybe they'll have some beer in there." 

Yvonne patted Ray's back, "And who's driving here?" 

The ferret blushed realizing his mistake, "Oh yeah, sorry."

Jack fumbled his paws as they walked to the store, "Um, actually there is something I want to say."

Ray glanced at him, "What's up?"

"You remember when I said I met up with Officer Wilde and Hopps?" 

The ferret tapped his chin, "Let me guess, it's bothering you?"

Jack merely nodded in response. 

"I don't blame you, just talking to an officer makes me stressed out every time, and not just because of my...previous activities."

"What about you Yvonne? Do you feel the same?" Jack questioned the bat.

"I attempt to keep any contact to a minimum, but typically I'm not bothered by them." 

The three entered the store, and immediately Jack went looking for a snack as he felt quite hungry. 

"Let's see here...always so many different choices, I don't what I want." 

Ray picked out a package of bug jerky and protein bar, "I recommend those barbecue chips, I don't know if you like the flavor because of your species but I love chowing down on them." 

Jack reached for the bag, "Hmm, as long as it's just made from potatoes I doubt the spices will hurt me." 

Yvonne joined alongside Ray, "They had some fruit, but the only thing that looked edible was the dried apple slices." 

"That sucks, remember that fancy convenience store with the tables to eat at and the microwaves? I must've ate three bowls of ramen." Ray recalled.

The bat rolled her eyes, "I did, you threw up from all that food you ate, also you spent way more than you needed." 

"Seriously? Three bowls? I can only eat one and I'm already pretty full." Jack spoke in shock.

"Oh yeah, I was going crazy, trust me I don't normally do that sort of thing." Ray told the buck as he placed his items on the register. 

After purchasing the items the three walked to the truck and sat in the bed, "By the way, where do you live, since I'm dropping you off and all." Ray asked.

"Not far from City Hall, about three blocks south." Jack answered opening his bag of chips. 

"Cool, luckily this truck is made for small mammals like us so parking should be a piece of cake." Ray replied slapping the floor of the bed. 

The buck chuckled, "Don't be too sure about that, where I live competition for a parking space is intense." 

"No shit? Is there no parking garage at your place?" 

Jack shook his head, "Nope, I'm pretty sure the people who plan our roads are trying to discourage driving in that area. There's just street parking and the odd tiny parking lot that costs quite a bit to get into." 

"You'll just have to jump out of the window then." Yvonne joked.

Jack was surprised at her sudden bout of humor, "What, like in the movies?"

Yvonne winked, "It'll save us the hassle of finding a spot to park at." 

Ray smirked, "Looks like she's opening up to you. It's a good sign." 

Jack found comfort in hearing that, "I suppose that's good to hear." 

"The fact you helped us move someone's stuff halfway across the county is more than enough to convince me that you're being a good friend." 

Jack took a bite of the barbecue chip and scrunched his nose, "This is loads spicier than I was expecting."

"Check the labeling, they put some jalapeno and cayenne pepper to spice things up." The ferret pointed out.

The spiciness was noticeable but palatable for the rabbit, "It'll work as a snack." 

"You got a pretty good tolerance for spicy foods, I'm surprised because rabbits don't normally do well with it." 

Jack shrugged, "Might be genetics, or I'm just hungry and don't give a shit." 

Ray finished the rest of his jerky, "So anyways, our next objective will be a short one, since more or less your part of our thing now I'll be transparent about our activities." 

Jack nearly choked on one of his chips, "Wait really? I only known you guys for a few days though." 

"We already decided this on our way here, so anyways we'll let you go for now and Yvonne and I are going to let the rest of our organization know the job's done." 

"How many exactly are in this organization of yours?" Jack asked.

"In total, a few hundred or so." 

Jack froze in place, "...a few hundred?"

"What? You thought it was just us and Freddie? Can't do much when it's just us small fry." 

"And you lead the entire thing?" 

Ray shook his head, "Oh hell no, it'll be a disaster if I was head honcho, it's split between leaders of each division you could say." 

"Um...I don't have to shake paws with every member right?"

"Not unless you want to, but now that you are officially a member it'll be best to meet others just to get a feel." the ferret affirmed.

Jack sarcastically placed his paw on his heart in shock, "Am I member? This is all a bit sudden, do I get a card or something to commemorate this occasion?"  

"That'll be pretty funny actually if that was a thing, but no. Anyways, for all intents and purposes you'll be under our eyes and uh...you won't have to worry about getting lost in some vast network." 

"Okay? I'm still a bit confused on how all this works to be honest." 

"We apologize for misleading you about the actual size of our operation but if you did happen to be an informant for the police we rather it was just us two that were caught. For now you'll learn as we go along, but for now since you just started we won't burden you with too many tasks." Yvonne told the buck.

The rabbit shrugged, "Well since I have a job I'm glad to hear that." 

"Once you understand how everything works it'll be a piece of cake, relatively speaking, as you saw Fred has a family to look after but he still manages to work his magic." 

"And what's his specialty?" 

Ray stared at the jerky in the bag, "Just the 'fun' stuff like organizing meetings, finances, making sure the cops don't bust us, but again we got plenty of people to cover that stuff." 

"Silly question here, but what do you think I should do if I bump into Officer Wilde again?" 

The ferret set down his jerky, "Well there are two ways I would go, first would be to tell him to kiss your ass and risk getting brutalized or second, make friends with the guy and slowly convince him to join our side." 

"Hmm...maybe, he does have a rabbit for a partner so I can't see why not." 

"Just think of the benefits of having someone on the inside giving us hot info, we could even start tearing down the ZPD from the inside." Ray speculated. 

 "I'd be careful how you approach him though, from what you told us you are more or less just an acquaintance and I wouldn't get my hopes up." Yvonne warned.

Jack nodded, "I get it, he's from what I seen so far a pretty friendly chap, but I do also see that in the end he's still part of the rozzers. Also, for some reason I'm worried about Officer Hopps." 

Ray finished the rest of his jerky, "What makes you say that?"

Despite their brief encounter she seemed very dedicated to her job and he knew that since rabbits were already discriminated on the basis of strength she must've shown immense dedication to achieve her badge.

"I don't know, but deep down I feel like crossing her is a  _terrible_ idea."  

"Could you fight her off you think?" Yvonne then asked.

Jack shrugged, "I don't know, she's probably got specialized training of some sort for apprehending people so I'm not going to test her." 

"I'm curious now, ordinarily I would not recommend at all cozying up with the police but you seem to at least gained some recognition with Wilde, I would use that to your advantage, with caution of course." 

The buck's nose twitched, "I'm guessing flipping police officers is not really your guys' thing." 

"I hate them with a passion so me talking to them is out of the question, and Yvonne's not a people person in the first place but you seem willing so why not? Just make sure to brief us on whatever information you can get out of this." 

The two shook paws, "Sounds like a plan."

Ray yawned, "Let's get the hell out of here, it'll probably be a long drive back home just to warn you." 

Jack tsked, "Well, better than walking."  


	12. Walk the Walk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder if I'm being unoriginal with the plot, oh well...

"Humph! Humph! Come on! And....20!"

Jack huffed as he slowly lifted himself off from the floor after doing several sets of sit-ups, "Whew, that should be enough for today."

The rabbit stretched out his arms and back trying to recuperate the energy he lost through his exercises, "Let's see..."

He quickly checked his phone for the exercising tips he searched online, "I did the push-ups, sit-ups...hmm, I'm not going to push myself too hard today."

Ever since he returned home, Jack was creating plans for himself to improve his health including changing his diet and exercise.

By now it was approaching the evening and the sky already was beginning to turn into orange, however Jack felt his day wasn't wasted at all as opposed to normally when he would likely stay home and play video games or watch a movie. 

He glanced at the mirror on the wall and stared at himself for a moment, " _I wonder if I look the part..._ "

The rabbit was aware it would take likely several months before any real results would come in through his exercises but he had a renewed focus on improving himself as not to feel like liability to his friends or his new associates. 

Jack frowned and started messing with the fur on his head, " _I definitely need to trim it down, starting to look a little_ _unkempt."_

He sighed and walked to his kitchen to prepare the kettle for tea, "I wonder how my friends are doing. I should give them a call."

After pouring water into the kettle and setting it on the stove he dialed Sully's number, "Hello? Sully?"

" _Jack? What's up?"_

He leaned against the counter behind him, "Nothing much, just making some tea, how about you?"

" _Slow day today, only thing I can talk about is when I went to the pharmacy to pick up some snacks this old lady went ham on the cashier, it was crazy, I basically hid behind the shelves."_

Jack cringed, "Mate..." 

" _I thought it was both scary and hilarious because she was an old um...cougar."_

The rabbit could hear Sully snicker through the phone, "What's so funny?" 

" _You know Jack, old cougar?"_

It took a moment for him to understand his meaning but once he did a smile crept on his face, "Oh, that is a bit funny actually." 

" _Now I'm not being insensitive but I don't trust predators to keep their cool especially with other predators like the cashier."_

Jack was a bit unsure at Sully's observation, "I don't know, I haven't seen many examples of that, I think it's more an age thing if anything." 

" _Dude, most predators are hella scary when their mad. I would leave the area immediately."_

"I can say the same for quite a few prey, I mean, I've seen you pretty angry before and it's not pretty." 

" _Really? Am I intimidating like that?"_

Jack shrugged, "You're a slightly overweight deer, some people would see a roasting meal in front of them." 

" _Wouldn't that make it scarier?"_

The buck bit back a chuckle, "Please, my ears barely come up to your stomach and I still would fight you one on one." 

" _Thanks for the confidence booster Jack."_ Sully replied sarcastically.

"I'm just saying, deer are stereotyped as one that would run away from any situation."

" _Isn't it the same for rabbits?"_

"Of course, but when it comes to finding a mate, well...all bets are off."

Sully sighed, " _You just described almost every species ever Jack."_

"I know, it might sound old-fashioned but I believe many conflicts in this city happen because we are influenced by our instincts to impress the lovely lady that so happened to have caught our attention." 

" _That's a bit jaded, we have dating apps for competition now."_

The buck nodded, "True, but the basic formula is the same, its all about suitability."

" _How about guys who date other guys?"_

"I'm sure most of them lust after the most attractive males, same logic." 

" _What if a guy flirts with you?"_

Jack groaned, "Happened before, I ran into the gay pride parade last month and  _so_ many bucks flirted with me, one even offered to um...do things in the park bathroom." 

Sully laughed loudly for a moment, _"Really? And what were you even doing there, trying to get lucky?"_

Jack could hear the kettle begin to whistle, "No Sully, I was just trying to get to work but the parade happened to be on one of the streets I take to get there." 

" _Sure you were, anyways random thought but I was wondering if you wanted to hang out at the mall with Sam and I to play some laser tag."_

"Hmm, I don't know, I'm rubbish with aiming and Sam seems to unleash some sort of inner demon in her whenever she's playing." 

" _I know but it's funny watching you keep getting owned by other players."_ Sully added.

"To be honest I'm quite tired at the moment and I was just going to relax on the couch and watch some TV." 

" _Ooh! Let's play Battleground together then!"_ Sully gleefully suggested.

Jack looked at his game console, "Eh, why not, don't have anything else to do today." 

" _Sweet, I'll tell Sam so she can join."_

"Alright, just remember I might be tired but I'm still going to crush you two." Jack warned with a mischievous smile. 

" _Big words from a small bunny, bring it on then."_

The buck frowned hearing 'small bunny', "You really know how to push my buttons don't you, I'll see you in a bit." 

" _See ya."_

Jack ended the call and placed his phone in his pocket before grabbed a tea bag from the compartment underneath, "Green tea should help me wake up, have to beat those punks." 

After preparing his cup the buck dashed over to his couch and grabbed the controller, "Alright, haven't played in a little while but it should be fine." 

"....oh fuck off." 

Being killed by Sam for the fourth time in a row Jack who by now had lost all of his previous weariness was fully determined to get something, "How in the hell does she keep finding me?" 

He hid his character beside a shed and crouched, "Okay, I'll just wait until I see her and get a quick headshot." 

After a minute Sam's character appeared on his screen, with a grin he aimed his gun at its head, "It's my time now, sucker." 

He pulled the controller's trigger and the boom confirmed his kill, "Boom. Take that Sam." 

Jack was familiar with the fact that Sam was very competitive with this particular game and knew she would be on the warpath, but he was now motivated to win. 

However his phone started to ring, "What now? Hmm? Who's calling me?"

He put down his controller and looked at the screen, " _Oh fucking hell."_

"Hello?"

" _Hey_ _Jack, it's me, Nick, how're you doing?"_

Jack frowned a little, "I'm doing fine, what did you call me for?"

_"I was just calling to see if you join for a little walk."_

The rabbit raised his eyebrow, "A walk?"

" _Yup, something nice and easy."_

To Jack it felt like something was off but he couldn't turn down the opportunity, "Um yeah, sure, it should be cooler now." 

" _Good to hear, I'll be in Remington Park."_

Jack was familiar with the location and deduced it wouldn't be too much effort to get there by foot, "I'll be there." 

After hanging up the phone Jack made one quick preparation before heading off by texting Sam and Sully, " _I'm heading to Remington Park to see someone, if I don't respond by 7 it means I'm in trouble."_

* * *

Compared to many other parks in the city, Remington Park was relatively small but heavily wooded.

Jack wasn't sure why Nick wanted to walk with him, the paranoid side of him suspected that Nick found out who he was and was going to drag him into a secluded place to beat the answers out of him. But he also suspected that Nick just wanted to hang out and get to know each other better. Either way, the rabbit remained vigilant. 

Nick awaited at the park's entrance and waved at him, "Jack!" 

Jack noticed the fox wearing a green Hawaiian shirt and brown slacks, " _That's...surprisingly casual."_

The buck walked to him, "Glad to see you again Nick." 

The fox gave a friendly smile, "Likewise, thanks for joining me on this lovely evening." 

"Do you come here often?" Jack asked as they started walking into the park.

"Yes, great place to decompress after a day of hard work, sometimes I come here with Judy when she's not busy." 

Jack nodded, "Your partner right? She seems um...friendly." 

"She's definitely a keeper, just a little on the intense side if you know what I mean." 

The rabbit's mind interpreted it many ways, "Um...that's an interesting fact." 

Nick could see him fluttered, "Not that  _kind_ of intense, I know bucks are easy to arouse but damn." 

"I-I'm not aroused!" Jack spluttered. 

The fox glanced at the buck, "Just teasing ya, I can tell this is going to be fun." 

" _What is this? Some kind of mind game? I can't lose my calm otherwise I might do something stupid."_

Jack steeled himself seeing Nick as a trickster sort of fellow, "Just to be clear, I'm not in any way attracted to your partner." 

"Sure you aren't, I just hope her tight outfit doesn't get too strained against her curvaceous body next time you two meet."  

Anger built up inside Jack from the teasing, " _Fuck off, he's trying to get me angry, he thinks just because I'm a rabbit all I think about is..."_

"What about you then? Do you have any feelings for her?" Jack shot back.

Nick seem to give it some thought, "Hmm..."

The moment of silence from the fox didn't help placate the rabbit, "Well...she's a bundle of energy, and she's pretty smart." 

Jack couldn't make out if Nick did indeed have affection for her, "I see." 

"So Jack, got any family out here?" 

The rabbit shook his head, "Nope, all my family is back in Britain, I'm the only one in this entire country." 

Nick whistled, "Sounds rough."

"How about you?"

The fox shrugged, "Just my mother, we talk from time to time on the phone but since I've left the house I can't say we've been particularly close." 

Jack wasn't sure if he wanted to continue on, "And uh...your-"

"My dad? Apparently he skipped town when I was still a little cub, I don't have any memories of him and I've seen just one photo of when him and my mom were still together." 

The rabbit couldn't imagine his own father abandoning his family, "I'm sorry to hear that." 

The fox appeared nonchalant, "It's alright, again I don't remember him at all and my mom did okay raising me." 

Jack looked down at the ground, "She sounds like a solid parent to me." 

"She was, but I could tell raising me was a stressful experience, so I left earlier than most people do so I could lift that burden." 

His explanation struck Jack, "A burden?"

Nick's smile slowly disappeared, "I'll admit, being a dumb sort of depressed teenager doesn't help but yeah, at the time I felt so useless because of how my mom was struggling to keep us fed I ran away." 

Jack crossed his arms, "Is that right?"

"For a couple of years I became a lack for a better term, vagrant." 

"I've seen a few back home, my parents told me to stay away from such people because I might get roped into some crimes, course I didn't listen."  

Nick chuckled, "I was definitely one of those troublemakers but eventually with the help of a tough little guy I was able to get on my feet and after some odd years of doing semi-legal business I ended as an officer of the ZPD." 

Jack found a little sympathy in Nick's journey, "Quite the story, mine is a bit drab in comparison I'm afraid." 

"Let's hear it."

The rabbit scratched his head, "Nothing special, I grew up near London with my mum and dad and many siblings, graduated from school, came here did some more school and eventually landed my current job." 

"How old were you when you came here?" 

"I was...19." 

It then dawned on just how young he was when he moved to Zootopia and how little he had when he first came here, "To be honest it was a fucking miracle I'm even here, I could've easily been stuck in some dead-end job close to my hometown." 

"That does take guts, moving here at 19 by yourself? When I was 19 I was basically starving in the basement of a friend's parent's house."

"I wasn't the only one in my family to leave the country, but compared to my other siblings who have much better qualifications and support, I was on my own for quite a while." 

Nick stopped for a moment, "If you don't mind me asking, are you happy here?"

"Happy? I don't know, I'm not miserable but..." 

The rabbit felt something in his heart revealing itself as emptiness, "I could do more, a lot more." 

"Well lucky for you this city's full of stuff to do, just keep it legal." Nick clarified. 

Jack felt some irony hearing that statement from Nick, "We all should." 

The fox placed his paws in his pockets and continued on, "Well said." 

At this point Jack felt some progress was made between them, "I admit I enjoyed walking with you Nick, you seem to have a lot to say." 

"I could say the same, in some ways you remind me a lot of Judy, pretty open about your feelings."  

Nick's observation was atypical of what many other people who have converse with Jack before, but somehow he was compelled otherwise with the fox.

"I didn't expect to hear that from you."

"Are you normally less talkative?" Nick asked. 

Jack wasn't sure how to respond, "I wouldn't say I'm quiet but I try not to say anything stupid, it's something I had a problem with before." 

"Foot in mouth syndrome?"

"Something like that." 

Nick held back a snicker, "Don't worry, some people aren't natural conversationalists. I've meant plenty of people who say questionable things from time to time, including Judy unfortunately."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

The fox tapped his muzzle, "Well, she has made  _interesting_ comments about my species and predators in general, she means well but sometimes I want to tape her mouth shut in certain situations." 

Jack winced, "Um...you mean figuratively right?"

"Sure...let's stick with that." 

The rabbit was sure that the fox was just joking but deep down he felt Nick's statement held some actual weight and he was the sort not to cross with. 

Jack decided he had enough walking for the night, "It's been lovely talking to you Nick but I need to head home and finish up something I was doing earlier." 

Nick yawned, "Me too, I was going to make dinner and then do my laundry, been putting it off for too long." 

"Perhaps next time we can talk more." 

The fox nodded, "Yeah, I'll rope along Carrots as well, I'm sure she'll love to know you better." 

"Sounds good, I'll be heading out now, take care Nick." Jack said to the fox waving him goodbye.  

As they split ways Jack believed that he was starting to gain Nick's trust, but the question he had now was how was Judy going to respond with their budding friendship, he could only hope she wouldn't create any problems between them. 

 

 


	13. Room for Two?

Since Jack had his conservation with Nick, a week had passed without much note, in fact Ray have only once texted Jack telling him that him and Yvonne were going to be out of town and it was better for him keep a low profile in the meanwhile.

Despite that, Jack continued to stick with his self-improvement plan by being in the gym for first time in years. 

"Come on...ugh!" Jack grunted as he struggled to pull himself up on the metal bar. 

After just a few pull-ups, the buck relented and fell several feet down to the floor. 

As he drank from his water bottle Jack recalled him and one of his brothers named James having competitions between each other to see who was stronger, it ended with Jack going to the hospital for a concussion after attempting a game of rugby. 

Due to him having many siblings he had plenty of opportunities to defend himself against any attacks lunged his way and by the time he finished school he became arguably the strongest among all of his siblings and was known around the neighborhood for being quite the tough bunny. 

However by the time he moved to Zootopia he eschewed regular exercise in favor of studying and later his job which led to him losing his previous strength and even gained some weight, now Jack was determined to regain said strength after so many years of neglect.  

"You done with that?" 

A very muscular raccoon walked up to him prompting Jack to have a double-take, "Whew, you're quite the unit aren't ya?" 

"Have to be, doing the Spartan contest at the beach next month, gonna show them how strong someone like me can be." He answered with a gruff voice.

Jack had never seen any raccoon as muscular as he was, he reckoned it would take years of dedicated training to reach that size, "I would take a break after, just a piece of advice mate." 

The raccoon raised his eyebrow, "And what are you here for then?"

"I need to get stronger, I've been working my ass off the past few years and haven't been taking care of myself properly."  

"Sizing you up, I agree with that, still I see potential in you. Perhaps one day with enough training you could join our team."

Jack waved his paws dismissively, "I appreciate the offer but I'm too busy with other things at the moment." 

"I see, so what's the deal anyways? Trying to impress a lady friend?" 

The buck smirked, "That'll be a bonus for sure, but it's more so I can lend a paw to my friends." 

"I respect that, most gym-goers here are crazy about keeping up appearances, hell one of my buddies here worked out for three hours straight trying to bulk up his upper chest." 

Jack had a thought in mind, "Don't mean to be a bother but...do any um, police officers come in through here?"

"Oh for sure, I'm pretty confident they have their own gym but probably not nearly as well-equipped as ours so some of them come here." 

Jack looked around for any familiar faces, "Reason I'm asking is because there is a fox who I've been talking to and I was wondering if you have seen that fox by the name of Nick Wilde?" 

The raccoon scratched his head, "Nick Wilde...I think I've seen him here a few times before, comes here with another rabbit like you, they seem really competitive with each other." 

The buck wasn't too surprised hearing that, "I figured, can't be an officer without a little conflict..."

"I thought they were just being friendly to be honest."

Jack smiled in an ironic manner, "Friendly to each other sure...anyways do they just exercise here then?"

"Sometimes they take classes like self-defense and taking down opponents, typical cop stuff." 

The rabbit frowned, "Right. Can someone like me join then?"

"Of course! The more the merrier, even if you had the biggest muscles of any rabbit in Zootopia, a well-trained person could still take you down." 

"I must admit that is true." 

The raccoon smirked, "You seem motivated, hang around here for a while and you'll fit right in. Oh, name's Lucas by the way."

The buck lent out his paw but the pain of it being squeezed made him regret it, "Jack."   

"Nice to meet you, alright I'm off to do some reps, wanna join in?" 

Jack shrugged, "Well, not like I've got much else to do." 

* * *

After just an hour, the buck was entirely exhausted from the rigorous exercises directed by Lucas.

"Whew, nice workout." Lucas said wrapping a towel around his neck.

"Fuck me that was a bit too  _intense_ for my liking." Jack uttered as he collapsed onto the floor. 

"I told you it wasn't going to be easy, but if you want muscles like these it's pretty much the only way." 

Jack could barely feel anything below his neck except for constant burning of his muscles, "Yeah, I'm going to have to take a rain check on that mate." 

"Okay, maybe being like me is too lofty a goal, but you could stand to gain a few pounds at least." Lucas said as he knelt down to lift Jack back up.

"Sure, anyways I've decided to head home to rest for a little bit, maybe for like a week or so." 

The raccoon laughed, "That's quitter talk, I'll show you a faster way to regain your energy." 

Jack sulked, "Oh good." 

The rabbit was escorted by Lucas to the sauna, "Here we go, just a short session here and you'll be good to go." 

Jack was skeptical, "You think hot steam will help?"

"It does for me and for the others here, but first you'll need to-"

"Yeah yeah, I know how it works..." 

Jack then returned after a short while in the locker room wearing just a towel, "So, how long exactly does it take to work then?" 

Lucas smirked as he was on his phone, "Until you start feeling better."

The rabbit stared at him for a moment, "Don't let me die in there." 

"I'll try not to." Lucas joked.

Jack opened the door and entered inside, instantly the humid atmosphere seeped into his fur and he tensed up, " _Right, just sit down and try to relax._ " 

Being alone helped a little but the rabbit still could feel the remnants of the adrenaline inside his body causing him to remain alert, " _Think of something nice...sitting at the beach on a cool, cloudy day...just you..."_

Quickly he felt his uneasiness being washed away and instead a form of sleepiness kicking in, " _Hmm...this does feel quite nice."_

At first his vision began to blur and soon his eyes were shut, " _I definitely needed this..."_

While in his drowsy state he barely heard the door shut close but he already was so relaxed he paid it no mind.

" _Fancy meeting you here."_

The voice sounded familiar but Jack couldn't quite pinpoint it, "Yeah, you too." 

" _I didn't know you like to work out."_ the voice said in a somewhat amused manner.

The tone didn't suggest any threat so Jack remained calm, "Just trying to get stronger." 

_"Same here, you do seem pretty tired though."_

Jack yawned, "Probably." 

The other person laughed, " _Yeah, just came back from practice boxing with Carrots, she's a fighter for sure but she keeps underestimating me. Had to call it quits when I damn near knocked her out with a body slam, hoo boy she wasn't happy about that."_

"Carrots..." 

" _Yeah, she's here too, if you want to talk to her."_

Jack finally recognized who it was, "... _wait a minute."_

Jack forced himself to regain his focus and turned his head to the person in question, "Nick? What are you doing here?"

The fox was also just in a towel, "Same as you, just trying to relax myself but also keeping an eye on you." 

The buck scooted away from him, "Huh? You're watching me?"

Nick shrugged, "Let's just say Judy and I are keen on knowing where you are."

"And why is that?" Jack asked fearing what the officer knew.

"It might just be coincidence but you've been to places where the ZPD has let's just say an interest in." Nick replied in a still friendly tone.

Jack felt trapped being in the same enclosed space as the fox, "May I ask what you mean by that?"

The fox reclined back, "Not much, for now anyways. Doesn't mean we can't still be friends though."   

Jack knew it was time to leave, "Right, I'm going ahead now, I've been here long enough." 

Nick stretched out his arms and legs, "Cool, I'll see you later then?"

"Um...sure." Jack said slowly walking past him never losing sight of him. 

Jack ran back to the locker room to retrieve his clothing and searched for Lucas who was at the basketball court. 

"Lucas!" 

The raccoon who was in a game with other similarly sized mammals smiled at him, "Jack! How was the sauna?"

The buck ran up to him, "It was admittedly quite good until Nick showed up." 

"Nick Wilde? Yeah, he asked me where you were." 

Jack huffed in exasperation, "You told him?" 

Lucas smiled, "Well I assumed you guys were friends because he just asked in a casual way. You're not in trouble or anything right?" 

"No but I didn't expect him to show up when I was...vulnerable." 

"Lucas! Are you still playing or what?" 

Jack and Lucas turned to the person who shouted it, "Yeah, just a second!" 

Judy who was in sporty attire befitting the sport seemed annoyed at the game being interrupted, "Come on! We're tied and I'm not losing this one!" 

"Sorry! Can you wait a sec, she's not one to keep waiting." 

Jack rolled his eyes, "Sure, I'll just sit down." 

The buck watched as the game unfolded, it was clear that Judy was out of her league but her heart was in it regardless, trying hard to gain control of the ball from her opponents. 

If he didn't know who she was he almost would've considered her another buck but her hips ultimately gave away her actual gender but her demeanor definitely wasn't what he considered 'feminine'. 

" _Well, I can definitely see how she's part of the police, but still she's lacking something."_ Jack observed. 

Seeing her being knocked to the ground twice during the rest of the game only affirmed Jack's belief that she at least in the physical sense wasn't a real threat but he hasn't yet seen Nick in action to confirm the two weren't ones to tangle with. 

"Time's up!" the referee yelled from the across the room. 

Lucas and Judy gave each other a pawshake, "Good game Judy, you're getting better."

"Thanks! I've been practicing." the doe said cheerfully.

Jack checked his phone, " _It's starting to get late, better head home soon."_

"Jack right?"

The buck was startled, "W-What?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, we've met before but we really didn't get to talk." Judy told him.

Jack wasn't sure what to say to her, "Yeah, apologies about that." 

Judy sat down next to him, "Don't apologize! I was on the job and couldn't really make chit-chat but now that we're here we could talk a little." 

It was clear to him that she was attempting to be friendly like Nick was, but the same contempt he held for Nick applied to her as well, "Actually I was about to head home unfortunately."

She pouted, "Aw, that stinks, you seem like a pretty nice person so I thought we could chat for a bit."  

Jack awkwardly smiled, "Maybe another time? I'm a bit tired actually from working out before." 

She nodded, "I can tell, you look a little sleepy."  

"Thanks to the sauna no doubt." he muttered. 

"Oh, did you bump into Nick? He went there earlier." 

Jack sighed, "Yeah." 

Judy chuckled, "Knowing him he probably fell asleep in there." 

"That would be a tragedy." he morbidly joked. 

She got up and rubbed her back, "I'll go check on him, it was nice meeting you again Jack, hopefully we'll have more time to catch up." 

Jack halfheartedly waved goodbye, "Maybe." 

After she left the court Lucas immediately walked up to him, "She seemed into you." 

Jack shook his head, "I know what you're trying to do and it's not working, she's just a friendly rabbit, I can tell she's like that to anyone she meets." 

"I don't know, she's outgoing yes but normally she doesn't immediately strike up a conversation like that." the raccoon said.

Jack did a so-so expression with his paw, "Either way, she's honestly not really my type, a bit too...sprightly." 

"Hey, that could be a plus in certain places." Lucas suggested.

"Enough teasing Lucas, I'm not in the mood for that sort of banter." 

"Whatever Jack, I'm just saying, she has an interest in you." 

Jack winced, "Sure, just not the sort I'm looking for." 

His stomach rumbled, "Is there anything to eat around here?" 

"Just some vending machines, it would be nice if they had other things here." 

The buck began searching his mood, "I'm in the mood for a burrito."

"There's a taco truck close by, let's eat there." Lucas pointed out.

He figured it wouldn't hurt to grab a bite with the raccoon, "Sure, why not?" 

 

 


End file.
